Life's Just Peachy
by bobbyneko
Summary: As two members of the Lyoko gang slowly succumb to Xana's mercy, drama in the gang has risen to top notch, making the kids an easier target for Xana. And his attacks just keep getting worse and worse. yes there is UxY and AxJ
1. Just Another Day

**Summary:** Takes place during season two. Xana gradually manages to take control of two members of the Lyko gang very very secretly. And guess what! No one notices... Ha, ha, ha, I'm so original.  
**Disclaimer:** You know, some author around here wrote a really cool parody of the Lyoko song about not getting sued. It was funny. 

(A/N): yay! my first CL fic! Um, it start's out pretty slow and detailed (hey, it's the intro ok, expect it) and that's why this thing is categorized as _suspenseful_ (gasp! shreik!) because i like to beat around thebush unless i absolutely mustn't. Anyways, more intersting stuff will happen later on, though it's probably nothing new to anything else you've read here. Also, I try to keep as much as a limited bias as I can. Meaning, of course at some parts I'll be focusing on some characters more than others, but I'm not going to just randomly drop characters or ignore them completely because i dont think they're as important as some other ones (ppl do that and it's so annoying. it's like my favorite character doesnt even exist : ( Besides, i like seeing thing from everyone's point of view. It's lenghthly, but it's fun and interesting. Oh yeah, i think chapteres may or may not be longer in the future. who knows.

* * *

"Jeremie" came a soft, femine voice, seemingly out of nowhere.

A blonde boy with thick, black glasses looked up from his endless typing at a keyboard that was hooked up to a series of monitors placed inside a single dorm room at Kaidac's boarding school.

He looked into his computer screen and inquired, in a slightly naval voice, "What's wrong Aelita?"

The soft voice, with a touch of concern, again sounded throughout the room, "Jeremie, I feel pulsations, Xana's attacking again!"

If one was looking into the boy's computer screen at that moment one would have scene the head of a pretty girl with pink hair and a creamy complex; a living girl, yet a virtual being.

The young boy referred to as Jeremie, fiddled with the instruments on his desktop.

"Xana has activated a tower from the desert region." He reported. Suddenly the light above his head flickered and went out. His computer too, was shut off.

Thinking quickly, the blonde unplugged his computer from the wall and attempted to restart it. Within minutes he had brought up again the face of that young girl.

Unphased, Jeremie once again resumed their discussion.

"Apparently Xana has shut down the main power source throughout the city," he stated, as if it were an everyday occurrence.

"Is that bad?" questioned the girl.

"Not really Aelita," he confirmed, "it's just as if someone had cut a circuit wire from outside the school. Separate sources of power, such as Lyoko and my laptop shouldn't be affected by it."

"Xana's attacks have been getting weaker lately. I thought that the repeated trips back to the past would have charged him enough to make him stronger than this." Aelita commented.

"Well, if anything, the quality of his attacks have dropped, but the quantity has definitely increased. Maybe he's just experiencing a side effect from receiving a large amount of power within such a limited time?" he suggested.

"And he's using these little attacks to distract us?" the girl added questioningly.

"Speaking of distractions, I had better get the others down to the factory. The cell phones shouldn't have been affected either and hopefully one of them have caught on and is already heading down there." He reached for his cell phone and checked it. To his relief, it was functioning properly.

"Ok, I'll see you soon." And then, without anyone so much as touching the computer, the screen with the girl's face automatically shut off.

Jeremie dialed some numbers on his phone as he picked up his folded laptop and ran out of his room.

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At that same time, a tall Japanese girl faced a handsome brunette boy behind the garden shed on school property.

"Yes Ulrich," spoke the oriental, with a slightly sassy voice, " what was is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

The brunette shoved his hands into the pockets of his green cargos (that match very well with the even darker green flannel he was wearing that day) and proceeded to stare at the ground in front of the girl.

The raven-haired beauty tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and spared a glance at the tree where most of her belongings, including her cell phone and school books, lied unattended to.

Ulrich noticed her line of sight and cleared his throat. Her attention was slowly drawn back to him.

"Yumi, I, um…" he started, still unsure of what to say. _Great going Ulrich. You said you wanted to talk to her and now you don't even know what to say! She'd probably rather be sitting with 'him' right now, than be talking with you!_

Ulrich scowled, why did he always have to get himself stuck in these kinds of situations? It wasn't fair.

Realizing that Yumi was still watching him, waiting expectantly, he pressed himself to say _something._

"Listen, um, Yumi."

"Yes?"

"Um, how much do you really like William?" Ulrich glanced aside. Even though his voice came out as calm as always, his was really nervous inside, like he usually was around her.

"What do you mean Ulrich? Will is just a friend." Yumi replied nonchalantly.

"Is that all?" Ulrich's heart skipped a beat.

Yumi glanced at the black-haired boy sitting by a tree. "I dunno, why?"

"I mean, that's all he means to you right? Nothing more?" Ulrich hated the way he sounded as though he were pleading to her.

"Is this what you wanted to talk about?" Yumi glared at him, "What would you do if he was more than a friend, huh? Am I not allowed to have other friends than you and Jeremie and Aelita?"

"And Odd," Ulrich added without thinking. He was starting to wonder why that every time he attempted to talk about their 'relationship' with each other, she always managed to take everything the wrong way. "Look Yumi, I was just wondering, I didn't mean anything bad by it."

"Oh yeah, then what are you implying?" she snapped, "Why do you always have to butt into my business. What does it matter to you what I do and who I am friends with? Why do you always have to-

"Because I care about you!" Ulrich suddenly shouted, sick of always hearing her _assume _what he wanted and what he was trying to do. "Is that really such a bad thing!"

He spun around and walked away, not wanting to get too angry at her, knowing it wasn't completely her fault that he was, as his friends would put it, 'overprotective'.

It was just a simple question! Jeez! How complicated can girls get anyways?

Yumi watched him stalk off, a faint blush was on her cheeks._ Did he actually say that he cared for me?_ That was the closest she had ever heard Ulrich get to saying "I love you", to her face.

Of course they both knew that they loved each other, Yumi was just waiting for him to say out loud to her. Then again, her non cooperation every time he _did_ try to tell her didn't exactly help either.

Just then her friend William came up to her, holding her phone out to her.

"I think someone was trying to call you, but when I answered it they hung up." He told her. The meaning of his words passed through her head like a dead duck falling through the clouds as her brain refused to process the information.

"Keep it," she told her classmate, and slowly walked in the direction of which her other friend had left.Will stared at her, dumbfounded.

_Did she just say I could keep her cell phone?_ He pocketed it. _Sweet._

* * *

"Dammit!" Jeremie cursed at his phone as he was running towards the factory. Ulrich's cell apparently had been turned off sometime during the day and when he had tried reaching Yumi, some weird dude picked up instead.

Although the Xana attacks hadn't been as serious as normal times, it was still his belief to get rid of them as quick and efficiently as possible. Meaning he still panicked if he didn't get help right away. He dialed a third number into his phone.

_Please pick up,_ he pleaded.

* * *

A short, blonde-haired boy, otherwise known as Odd, was napping in his bed within the dorm room, until his cell phone ringing startled him out of his sleep. Grumbling, he rolled over onto his stomach and groped the floor beside his bed for the cause of the annoyance. Sheesh, and he was having such a good dream too.

"Hello?" he mumbled into the receiver.

"Odd? What's wrong, you sound like you just woke up."

"I did just wake up Jeremie." He said, stifling a yawn.

He thought he heard a sigh coming from the other boy. "Odd, it's the middle of the day, why, may I ask, were you sleeping?"

"Hey!" he protested, "Anytime is a good time for sleep!"

"Whatever, look-

"Xana attack?" Odd guessed as he got up and attempted to turn the lights on.

"Yeah."

"Be right there in a second, Jer, but first, I think my light switch is defective or something, it wont turn on the light!" he exclaimed.

This time Jeremie really did sigh, "Odd. Just go to the factory."

"Aye-aye Einstein." He replied gleefully.

* * *

**Review** and tell me what you think so far. Or what i'm doing wrong works too. 


	2. Laughing At Lovers

**Disclaimer:** i disclaim this in a less than creative fashion 

I'm worried, if season two keeps happening at such a fast pace on miguzi, my story'll be outdated and inaccurate and why has my font thingy gone all weird. Anyways, just to mention, im trying to keep a distinction between possession and being controlled. Just remember that.

Anyways, lemme know who seems out of character and where or if you have any questions, I'll try to explain myself – or apologize.

Tehrandomkitten – I checked trillinka's chapters but I didn't find it. If you do lemme know so I can give credit to whoever. Anyways I hope you like this chap if you read it.

Halli05 – thnks

D.D.Z.- ummm, somewhere over the rainbow? I'm sorry, I don't remember who it was. I tried to look for it but I don't think I reviewed that story.

Kiralover-Yeah youre right, I know it seems to be the same as every other fic in the world. I hope it'll get better too. My plan is a gradual one, that builds up after a while. I dunno if that'll make it more interesting, thanks for your honesty anyways.

Da fic

* * *

Aelita ran for the tower. As soon as she got there two hornets showed up and prepared to fire their lasers. Another human, clad in purple with a cat's tail stepped in between the hornets and the girl, firing his own lasers.

"Aelita hurry!" Odd said, taking a hit on his arm.

The pink-haired girl nodded, "Right!" and entered the tower. Before the monsters knew what was going on, she had entered the code.

"Great job you guys," Jeremie reported as they met him outside the factory, "You both did really well today. It's too bad I couldn't get a hold of Yumi and Ulrich."

"Aw, we didn't need them this time a' round." Odd boasted. "Besides," he winked, "I'm sure they were having enough troubles of their own."

"What do you mean Odd?" Aelita asked obliviously.

Odd grinned, "C'mon, I'll show you!"

With that he grabbed both Aelita's and Jeremie's wrists and led them to the forest where he was pretty sure Yumi said she was going to do some biology work.

"Odd, I don't this is a good idea." Jeremie whispered as they hid behind a bush. A little ways off they could see Yumi and Ulrich conversing.

"What's wrong with simply caring about our friends?" he protested.

Jeremie arched an eyebrow, "Concern is one thing Odd, but spying?"

"Jeremie," Aelita suddenly asked, "What are Yumi and Ulrich doing? Why are their faces so close together?" Odd and Jeremie whipped their heads around in unison. Ulrich was about to kiss Yumi!

"Jeremie?" Aelita asked again, "Why's your face red?"

"Um, I-I don't think we should be watching this," he stammered, eyes not once leaving their two friends.

"Suite yourself" said Odd, then whispered, "C'mon, Ulrich, do it do it do it!"

All three of them held their breaths as Ulrich's face edged closer to Yumi's own…

------------------------- ------------------------------ ---------------------------- -------------------

Earlier:

Yumi followed Ulrich at a small distance, watching his back intently. Ulrich felt her presence and led her far enough so that neither William nor any other student would disturb them.

Suddenly he stopped.

"What do you want Yumi?" he finally asked.

Yumi came up to him, still facing his back, "I believe _you_ wanted to talk to me."

Ulrich turned around, "I already did and _you_ ripped my head off about it!"

"Well who wouldn't? You were being a jerk in front of William, _Ulrich_"

"I hardly said anything and you immediately got on my case about it! And who cares how I act in front of him or not?" Ulrich threw his hands up in the air, "you know what? Nevermind. We shouldn't even discuss this anymore; whenever we do we always sound like an old married couple."

He almost turned around when he realized what he just said,

"N-no wait! I didn't mean it like that!" he blushed.

Yumi almost smiled. Yes, he was definitely slipping, he should profess his love to her any moment now. Yumi shook her head, _Great, I'm plotting evilly inside my head. I think Sissy's getting to me_, she thought, then put on her mad face to provoke the poor boy some more.

"It's ok Ulrich, I don't want to talk about it either! Just stay out of William and mine's business." She spun around, as if to walk away.

"No Yumi, wait" he called softly. She turned back around. "I- I'm sorry. You're right, it's none of my business." He stepped up to her slowly.

"It's just, it's just that I…" their faces were so close to one another now, Ulrich could even feel Yumi's warm breathing on his cheeks.

"It's just that you what, Ulrich?" Yumi whispered moving her face closer as well. Her heart was leaping within her chest, Ulrich was going to kiss her!

"I…" Ulrich's moist lips had just barely brushed her own when-

"YES! What'd I tell ya!" "Tells us what?" "Odd! Quiet down, they'll hear you!"

By that time Ulrich and Yumi had jumped at least five feet apart, blushing madly.

"I think they already have Jeremy," they heard Aelita say calmly.

"What?" Jeremie stood up and smiled nervously, "Uh, hi guys. Didn't mean to interrupt you of anything," he looked down at his feet.

"It's ok Jeremie," said Yumi, glaring at Ulrich, "You didn't interrupt anything. I have to go back to William, he's probably wondering where I am right now."

Ulrich winced, "Yumi, wait!"

"Nothing _happened_, Ulrich." She called over her shoulder.

Ulrich sighed and turned around- to see Odd standing there looking sheepishly at him.

Ulrich glared.

"Um, sorry?" Odd said feebly as his friend stormed passed him without saying a word.

"Oh well, so much for them getting it on." He shrugged then looked around, "huh? Aelita? Jeremie? Where'd you guys go?"

------------ -------------------- ----------------------- -------------------------- --------------------- --

_That night…_

A grey light flickered on and off inside the two slumbering boy's dorm. A black mist flowed out of the computer sockets, but unlike the previous ghosts, this one had purple electric-like currents flowing within. Without a sound, the flickering lights finally died down.

------------------- ----------------- ------------------ ------------------ -------------- ----------- -----

_Midday in the cafeteria_

Jeremy and Aelita were sitting at their usual table. They looked up to see Yumi, humming gleefully, coming their way.

"You sure look well today," Aelita commented.

"Yeah, after that fight yesterday I thought you would be pretty angry," added Jeremy.

Yumi smiled at them, "Are you kidding? Because of that Ulrich has to admit that he likes me now."

Jeremy and Aelita stared at her strangely.

"What?" she asked innocently.

Just then Odd came and sat down next to Jeremie, his normal excessively large plate of food in his hands.

"Hello," he chirped.

"Hello Odd, how was class?" Aelita greeted.

"Boring as ever," He replied simply, taking a giant bite of cafeteria mush.

"How was Ulrich?" Yumi asked.

Odd noticed her unusually blissful behavior and eyed her warily.

"What's up with her?" he whispered loudly to Jeremie.

"Oh nothing, she just says that Ulrich's going to admit his love to her today," he said calmly.

"I didn't say it like that!" she protested quickly. Too late, Odd was already grinning, "Oh really? You sound like Sissy!" he laughed.

"I do not sound like that sl- HER!" Aelita and Jeremie were now giggling as well. Yumi sat back in her chair, blushing slightly, more ticked than embarrassed.

When the giggling finally stopped, Odd got a somewhat thoughtful look on his face. He leaned forward on the table, "But what makes you so sure that'll be today huh? I haven't talked to Ulrich much lately, but when I have, he still seemed pretty ticked."

"Ticked at you maybe, besides, I never said that it would be today."

Satisfied, Odd resumed his eating, that is, until the ever observant Aelita pointed out that Ulrich was there with them in the cafeteria, sitting two tables away, scowling at his food.

"Huh? Why's he sitting way over there?" Odd asked idiotically.

"I dunno Odd," Yumi said dryly, "Why do you think?"

"Maybe you should go apologize to him." Jeremie advised.

Odd grinned, "Oh I get it, I do the making up and Yumi does the making out!" he exclaimed. Yumi threw her fork at his head.

"I'll talk to him after school, besides, I think Sissy's keeping him busy enough anyways, and I haven't even finished my lunch." The stupid prick sure enough was already blabbering away at the unhappy Ulrich, thinking that since he was alone that day for some reason he'd want to go out with her. From where they sat they could see Ulrich mumble something to her, at which Sissy ran away, unusually upset and with tears in her eyes.

"I wonder what that was about?" Aelita questioned thoughtfully.

None of the others replied, all of them just figuring that Ulrich must have been really really pissed off.

* * *

Please **Review**


	3. Fluff And You

**Diclaimer:** Hola Author Of Almighty Screw The Lawyer's Song Parady Of Lyoko's Theme! We Earthlings Are Waiting Fo Thee To Reveal Thy True Nature! (and to maybe read my fic lol)

Ha ha ha, today's episode was funny. Odd has the funniest laugh ive ever heard. well, except for peter's from family guy.

Anyways, this chapter is pretty much all from Ulrich's pov (in third person omnipotent of course), just another uneventful attack. Enjoy.

**ReddistheRose**-cool screen name. anyways, um yay! lines yay!

**Anime Blob**-well that's because season one JUST came out. Anyways, I haven't got a clue now who wrote that song. See if tehrandomkitten has found it yet. If not then maybe we'll get lucky and the author will find us and tell us his/her self. Oh yes, it was really funny.

**Yumi-Lover-**yay! it's good yay!

**American-Kitty**-yay! you love it yay!

**Faunamon**-I like titles too. Keep reading to find out! (blackmail! muahahaha)

**Coolaboola113**-yay! you like it yay!

**Tehrandomkitten-**funny, though I don't really care for ulrich and yumi that much.

**D.D.Z.** -hahaha funny scary music. : )

nxt chp

* * *

Ulrich's eye's flickered when the Xana symbol appeared instead of his pupils. It was really freaky to look at. Too bad Sissy never noticed or she might have left him without going into a crying fit.

_You know, for some reason, I really don't feel sorry for her…_thought the real Ulrich, the one unable to control his own body. Unfortunately, that one submissive thought allowed Xana even more dominance over him. For what seemed like forever it felt like his mind was being crushed and squeezed by an invisible fist. The only thing was that though Ulrich's mind was going through immense pain, his physical face didn't even flinch.

-

After a few minutes, the torture subsided, and Ulrich found himself, or rather, Xana's self in Miss Hertz's science class. And there was a note in front of him.

It read

_Meet me on the roof after school. PLEASE_

-Odd /

Ulrich almost smiled. No wait, he DID smile, it's just, it wasn't him who smiled. Somehow, and he didn't quite know how, he felt that Xana was….happy. No, that wasn't right, more like _pleased._

_Don't you even think about doing anything to him Xana!_ He screamed within his head. He knew Xana heard him when his entire being seemed to drop. He felt insanely depressed, sick, lonely, and worthless, all in one. Somehow, he got the feeling that Xana was mocking him. _Dammit Xana! I swear once you get out of my head I'm gonna- _He started, but couldn't finish for another wave of pain washed over him.

-

When he finally came to again, Ulrich found himself on the roof of the school building, staring at Odd, who was doing a really bad job at his attempt to apologize for yesterday.

"You know, it's really your fault for making the opportunity so inviting Ulrich. You were practically asking for someone to spy on you guys! I mean, sure, it was way out in the middle of the forest where no one would usually go off to, but seriously, what did you _think_ Jeremie, Aelita, and I were gonna do when you and Yumi were _mysteriously _away from Lyoko, well, ok, not so much as Jeremie and Aelita as me, but still! And this wasn't even the first time you two ditched us for each other! What were you guys making out or something? Not that it's really my business or anything, but that doesn't give you any reason to stay mad this long just because I barged into you this _one _time. Besides, Yumi's been wanting to talk to you lately. I mean, you know she already like's you a lot so why don't you just profess your undying love for her already. Ulrich? Ulrich are you ok?" Odd looked at him with concern, usually by this time in his rant Ulrich would have tried to land a punch on him, if for no reason other than to shut him up. Ulrich Ulrich however, had abruptly been daydreaming since Odd mentioned Yumi's name. Xana Ulrich, however, had simply been staring deadpanned at the short Lyoko fighter.

"Um, Ulrich? Why haven't you tried to kill me yet?" he asked.

_No Odd! Don't say that!_

Ulrich, slowly and securely stepped right up into Odd's face.

_Too late._

"Sorry to keep you waiting," He said medievally.

Suddenly, Ulrich saw his right arm shoot out and grasped Odd tightly around the throat.

"H-hey! I wasn't meaning literally!" he protested, thinking Ulrich was still pissed, which he was, just not in the same way he was thinking.

Xana Ulrich tightened his grip.

"Ok ok, I'm sorry! I was wrong I'll leave you and Yumi alone and won't ever tease you two again!" he proclaimed as Ulrich tightened his grip even more. By this time Odd's face had begun to slowly change colors.

He was slowly suffocating his best friend.

_Grrr! Stop it! Stop it stop it stop it! _Ulrich screamed within his head. But instead of acquiescing, Xana Ulrich dragged Odd by the neck over to the edge of the building.

Odd attempted to break free, or at least tried to breath, to no avail. Finally he realized Ulrich's demented eyes.

"Xana…" he gasped, as Xana Ulrich single handedly lifted him over the railing.

_Nooo!_ Ulrich cried out, then blacked out in pain once more.

-

_Ulrich…_

That voice – Yumi!

_Ulrich, wake up._

'I'm here Yumi! I can hear your voice!'

_Ulrich please wake up, we need you. Me, most of all._

'Yumi! I'm awake Yumi! I can hear you! I'm –

-

_Awake?_ Once again Ulrich Ulrich's vision was filled through Xana Ulrich's eyes.

Now he was facing Yumi, who held her hands up in her karate stance, there was a large bruise on the side of her face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Odd lying unconscious on the ground a few feet away from them.

Suddenly, Yumi was charging at him.

"Hyaaah!" she called out as she did a flying kick. Ulrich blocked with ease, with a force that was not his own. Yumi went flying into the railing. She seized her stomach as she slowly rode to her feet. At that same time, Odd was awakening as well. Xana slowly walked towards him, and Yumi tackled him from behind.

"Odd!" she called out, "Find Jeremy and Aelita! Get to the factory!"

Still slightly dazed and clutching his head, Odd nodded and exited the roof top.

"Xana!" she screamed as she was thrown off of Xana Ulrich, "I won't let you get away with this!"

Xana Ulrich charged the oriental, who quickly dodged and headed for the roof exit herself. Apparently she decided that fighting her possessed would-be boyfriend on the top of a five or six stories tall building wasn't the best of ideas.

Unfortunately for her, Xana Ulrich was really really fast, and grabbed her arm just as she opened the door.

_NO!_

"NO!"

They called in unison. Xana Ulrich pressed her against the wall next to the stair's going down.

"It's time for you to say goodbye," Xana Ulrich smirked. Yumi struggled, but it was no use, Xana Ulrich easily overpowered her.

_No, _Ulrich cried again, this time with as much force to send electrical charges throughout his body. Or maybe that was just Xana trying to block him out again. Ulrich resisted with everything he had, _I won't let you hurt her!_ He grasped his head with both of his hands. Wait, was that right? _Ulrich_ grabbed _Ulrich's _head with _Ulrich's _hands, fighting off Xana's infiltration!

Sadly enough, Yumi didn't notice, she only realized that Xana had his hold of her go. With all her force, she kicked at to what she thought was Xana Ulrich. Her aim was true and Xana Ulrich cried out while stumbling backwards, toward the stairs. Desperately he reached out for something to keep him from falling. Yumi, reached out for Ulrich and they clasped the other's outstretched hand.

However now there was nothing for Yumi to hold onto, and they both went tumbling down the stairs, and, of course, landed in the most embarrassing position possible: Ulrich lying on his back with Yumi on top of him, hands placed on either side of his head, legs umm yeah.

Both were blushing profoundly.

"U-Ulrich? Is that really you?" She asked, staring deeply into his eyes.

"Yes Yumi, It's me. Xana's gone," he said, staring just as deeply into hers.

"Forever?"

"No stupid, he's not in me anymore."

Yumi sat up, "Oh, right."

Ulrich sat up as well, rubbing his back, "Ow… anyways, what happened Yumi, the last thing I remember was strangling Odd, then suddenly I was facing you and..."

"I was there the whole time Odd was attempting to apologize to you. We saw how angry you were at Sissy earlier, and thought that it was our fault, so Odd was going to try to make things a little better, while I waited behind the door to see if it was a good time to talk to you about –other- things. When I was getting ready to go out there and strangle Odd for being such an idiot, you, um well –"

"-beat you to the punch," Ulrich added in.

"Yeah, so I came out and saw that you'd gone all evil and all, and we all started fighting and you sorta know from there." Yumi stared at her hands which were folded neatly in her lap, while an awkward silence fell between the two.

Finally Yumi spoke up again, "Thanks."

Ulrich side-glanced at her, "For what?"

"For coming through for me. For a moment there I really almost thought that…"

"What are you talking about? You're the one who was calling my name."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind, look," he leaned closer to her, "you know that I would never hurt you, no matter what, right?"

Yumi blushed at their closeness, "Of course!"

"Good," he whispered, and really did kiss her this time. It only lasted a second or two, but it was still a kiss. For the next fifteen minutes, as they walked to the factory together, neither said a word, but each would blush occasionally, stealing a small glance at the other.

Upon entering the factory, they found Jeremie reporting that Aelita had successfully entered the tower.

"So everything's ok?" asked Ulrich.

Jeremie spun around, "U-Ulrich! Odd said that you got possessed by Xana!"

"He did," Yumi told, "but Ulrich was able to overcome him!"

"Ulrich? What's going on?" Odd's voice came from the computer. Jeremie informed him of Ulrich's status.

"You were right Jeremie" Odd said, "Xana's attacks have definitely gotten weaker, when Aelita and you got possessed, you guys didn't stop until either Xana gave up or until Aelita entered the code!"

Yumi snapped, "Or maybe Ulrich's just gotten stronger!"

Ulrich blushed.

"Either way," Jeremie said, ignoring the subtle implication of Yumi's comment that Aelita and him were weak, "Xana is still a formidable opponent. We can't start taking him lightly now."

"Yeah, whatever Einstein, just bring Aelita and I back already," said Odd.

Jeremie proceeded to do so as Ulrich commented, "And we still need to find the anti-virus, and fast."

Jeremie nodded, "I think there's still more information we can gather from Lyoko. I'll let Aelita know that we'll be headed for sector five tomorrow."

* * *

yay, done, whoopee, sector five tomorrow, if youre lucky. So stay tuned yo.

Yes and there you go all you sappy Yumi/Ulrich fans. You better give me an extra nice **review **for all the fluff I put in.

Everyone else, feel free to **review** in any way, shape or form that suites your fancy.


	4. Sector Five

**Disclaimer:** I own naught.

(A/N) I am so sorry for making you all wait 48hrs instead of 24. but I wrote twice as much to make up for it : )

Anyways, this is where I'm finally going out on a limb and breaking away from the series to the 'fiction' realm (meaning I finally got to the plot part). It's where you decide you either like my story, or you hate it. I will still of course reference to season one and two as much as possible, but it'll get riskier as season two moves on, so to prove my story inaccurate. I do so hate interfering with the original timeline. Oh well, better now then when the series ends (which I hope never happens.

**American-Kitty**- thnks, here's the nxt one.

**D.D.Z**- yay! i love odd too : ) ok, I read your CL fic too, really really good btw : ) and im not just sucking up either.

**Tehrandomkitten**- GOLDEN cookies? no way!

**Anime Blob**- hey! You were right! There WAS I new episode today : ) it's like my b-day every day with the new season out. If you make up that song then lemme hear it! And I'll post it here (with many kudos credits to you of course) so everyone else can read and enjoy. They've been wonderin about that song as well…

**ReddistheRose-**does your head get dizzy with excessive fluffiness too? I always feel like im just waking up from a deep sleep if ive been reading a lot of intense fluffy story. (intense fluffy…is that an oxymoron?)

**Faunamon-** lucky for us Xana doesn't discriminate against girls. Heh heh, watch out aelita and yumi heh heh.

**Yumi-Lover**-you only liked it cuz you love yumi, which is perfectly valid. Well, sorry, there isn't too much of yumi in this one. But alas, I have yet to forsake her. Feel better soon!

* * *

The gang was walking home from their afternoon adventure. By this time, however, it had gotten fairly late. Yumi sighed as they came to the gateway of the school property, she would have to lie to her parents once again.

"Well, I should be off," she said, looking right at Ulrich.

"Yeah, us too," he agreed. No one moved. Yumi and Ulrich were especially reluctant to leave each other.

"It's strange, I'm really not tired even though the sun is no longer out, in fact, I feel wide awake," commented Aelita.

"Me neither," Odd stifled a yawn, Ulrich and Yumi nodded their heads.

"I believe we're all running on adrenaline right now," Jeremy observed.

"Hey! Hey!" Odd piped up, "I have an idea! Why don't we all go back to the dorms and do something!"

"Like sleep?" Ulrich suggested brilliantly.

"No, like play a game or something!"

Yumi shrugged, "Fine with me, I'm already gonna be in trouble for staying up so late, what's a few more hours?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea, what if we get caught by Jim?" Jeremy was, well, being Jeremy.

Odd slapped his back, "Relax Einstein, that's why we'll meet in Aelita's room, no one will suspect us there."

"I'm gain," contributed Ulrich. Jeremie gave in as well. Quite easily they managed to sneak into the girl's dorm, even without disturbing the ever intruding Sissy.

Once in, Aelita and Yumi cushioned themselves on Aelita's bed while Jeremie sat down adjacent to it. Ulrich too was sitting on the floor, back resting against the foot of the bed, and Odd was leaning against the desk.

"What should we do?" asked Yumi. Odd had a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Why don't we play Truth or Dare?" he suggested.

"What's that?" asked Aelita.

"It's a game where you ask somebody Truth or Dare. If they pick Dare, you dare them to do something they wouldn't normally want to do. If they pick Truth then they have to answer any question you ask," explained Ulrich.

Aelita nodded, "I think I understand."

"Would you like to go first?" offered Yumi. She nodded again.

"Who do I ask?"

"Anybody."

"Umm, ok then, Jeremie," she pointed at him. Jeremie looked up.

"Truth or Dare?" she asked.

Jeremie immediately replied, "Truth."

"Do you like me?" she questioned. Odd burst out laughing. Jeremie turned plum red.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Aelita asked innocently.

"Don't worry Aelita you're doing just fine," said Yumi, sniggering herself.

"Odd! Quiet down will you, do you want us to get caught?" hissed Ulrich.

"Jeremie? Aren't you supposed to answer the question?" Aelita asked again.

"Yeah Jeremie! Answer the question!" laughed Odd. Yumi threw a pillow at him.

"I- uh, of course I do," stuttered Jeremie.

"Ain't that the truth!" tears were now coming out of his eyes from laughing so hard.

"Odd. Shut up," ordered Ulrich, "Jeremie, your turn."

Jeremie was still blushing, "I, uh, I'll pass."

Ulrich didn't push it, "Fine then, I'll go. Odd, Truth or Dare?"

Odd raised an eyebrow, "Dare," he challenged.

Ulrich grinned. "I dare you to wear a dress to breakfast tomorrow."

This time Yumi burst out laughing, Aelita was giggling as well. Heck even Jeremie was smirking.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Odd proclaimed.

"Oh? Why not?"

"I- uh, well, where am I gonna find a dress?"

Ulrich had the most evil grin imaginable, "Oh I'm sure Sissy'll have a few spares…"

"No way!" shouted Odd, "Sissy's _your_ arena, _Ulrich."_

"What was that?"

"Calm down you two," said Jeremie. Meanwhile, Aelita was digging through her drawers with Yumi's help.

"Is this the one?" Aelita asked, Yumi nodded. They turned around with smiles on their faces and holding a pretty pink frilly dress. Odd put his head in his hands and groaned.

Ulrich suddenly yawned, "Man I'm tired, I think I'll turn in for the night."

Jeremie stretched, "Me too."

"Hey!" protested Odd, "That's not fair! I haven't had my turn yet!"

Ulrich and Jeremie grinned.

"That's too bad, but I need to get home," said Yumi, " I'll see if I can't come to school early tomorrow. G'night you guys!" she quietly left the room.

"Well, best be off, remember we go to sector five tomorrow. See you in the morning, _Odd_," Jeremie said as he was the next one to leave the room. Odd glared after his departure.

"C'mon Odd, let's get back to our room, Goodnight Aelita." Ulrich said.

"Yeah, 'night Aelita, don't be surprised if you don't find Ulrich alive tomorrow." Odd waved, dress in hand.

"Bye guys," she waved back.

Walking back to their dorm, Odd whispered to his friend, "C'mon, lemme have my turn, Truth or Dare?"

Ulrich sighed, "Fine, I pick Truth."

"Would you ever date another girl other than Yumi? Not just Sissy, but any other girl."

Ulrich almost blushed, he had expected such a question, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing for him, "Why do you ask?"

Odd put his hands behind his head, "Well, since you two always act so _madly_ in love with each other all the time…"

"Odd," Ulrich scolded, "It's not like that."

"Then what _is _it like?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Odd shrugged, "Can't a friend care about a friend? So? Would you?"

Ulrich looked down at his feet; briefly he remembered the 'incident' that took place earlier that day.

"No," he finally resolved, "I don't think I ever would, no matter who she was, Yumi's the only one for me, even if she doesn't feel the same." He seemed to be talking more to himself than to his companion.

Odd smiled uncharacteristically sincerely and patted his back, "That's what I thought. I wouldn't think anything less of you Ulrich."

Odd's smile faded back away into his normal grin, "Race you to the dorms!" he cried out, taking off as fast as he could.

He caught Ulrich unaware, "Hey! Odd! Are you insane! We're gonna get in trouble!"

"Not if you run fast enough!" Odd called over his shoulder. Ulrich sighed, then trotted after him.

---------------------------- ----------------- ---------------------- --------------- ----------------------

"Ok everybody? Ready for virtualization," Jeremy spoke. It was the day after, school had already ended and they were preparing to head into Lyoko. First he transferred Ulrich and Yumi.

"It's clear Jeremy," reported Ulirch, "Not a monster in sight."

"Ok, transferring Aelita and Odd….virtualization!"

"Alright guys, head to where the transporter's going to pick you up, I'll type in the password," announced Jeremy. The five complied as they ran over to the spot on the edge of forest region.

SCIPIO

A blindingly white floating ball, decorated with the Xana symbol, transported the five over into the sector five region. They landed in the middle of the eye and proceeded to the ledge in which enormous amounts of data was stored.

After about five minutes of standing around and doing nothing, Aelita finally logged off.

"Jeremy, I've transferred some data that I think might help," she said.

"Why'd you stop? We've got plenty of time left to keep searching for data," questioned Jeremy, who was eager to obtain as much information, as quickly as possible.

"But that's just it Jeremy," said Ulrich, "We have plenty of time because there haven't been any monsters around. Don't you think that's at least a little suspicious?"

"No," Jeremy snapped, "in case you haven't noticed, Xana's been having a recent history of weak attacks, we should take advantage of the time we have, we might not get another opportunity like this!"

"Ok ok, sheesh Jeremy, calm down," Odd said.

"If you say so Jeremy," Aelita walked back to the computer. At the same time, the switch that ceased the countdown of sector five, began to glow a dim red.

"Don't look now," Yumi warned, "trouble."

She was referring to a group of five or so flying mantis, newly hatched from their egg.

"A lot of it," Ulrich pointed to another group of five flying mantis, coming from the other direction of the sphere that was sector five.

"Jeremie!" called Aelita, "Somehow Xana's preventing me from accessing his memory!"

"Don't worry about that now!" Jeremie yelled, "You guys got serious trouble!"

"So we noticed," retorted Odd.

"Be serious Odd, five groups, each with five flying mantis are coming your way from above, below, both sides and straight ahead!"

"Care to virtualize our vehicles anytime soon?" Ulrich asked.

"It's too dangerous! There's no way you can escape outside the dome without getting shot down first! You're going to have to go back through the sphere!"

"You heard him Princess, let's go," said Odd, running back inside, Aelita following after. The switch inside began to glow a darker red.

"Yumi, go on, I'll cover you!" called Ulrich, already blocking an onslaught of lasers.

Yumi nodded running after her two friends. At that time however, the switch inside released itself, and the passageway closed before Yumi could make it through.

"Jeremie! What happened?" Yumi turned around to defend herself with Ulrich, against the approaching Manti.

"It appears the device that controls the countdown has reset itself and is trying to close off sector five! If Aelita gets crushed in there, it'll be the end of her!" he cried.

"We know Jeremie, but we can't do anything about it," Ulrich dodged an arrow aimed at his head, "Besides, Aelita wasn't crushed last time."

"Yeah, and Odd's there to defend her against the scipizoa. So just make sure you have that special de-virtualization program set up!" Yumi called out.

"I understand what you're trying to say, but there's only one problem: I've lost contact with them and their signals have disappeared!"

"That's not good," commented Ulrich, when a laser, that seemed to come out of nowhere, hit his head.

"Fifty life points left Ulrich! Hang in there!"

"Easier said than done. Oh shit," he suddenly spat.

"What is it you guys?"

Ulrich pointed upwards, "We forgot about the flying mantis coming from above us."

Yumi looked down, "and from below.

Within seconds, with the approach of the two other groups, Ulrich and Yumi were de-virtualized.

------------ ------------- -------------------- -------------------- ------------ -------------- ------------

_Inside sector five…_

Odd and Aelita immediately stopped running once they heard the door close behind them.

"Huh? What's going on Einstein? Where's Yumi and Ulrich?" Odd asked, "Jeremie? Heeellloooo?"

"Odd, look!" Aelita pointed to two approaching monsters.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," he grabbed her arm and began running, just as the entire region of sector five began to shape-shift.

"Hurry!" Odd called as they jumped over a rising platform. Soon they had nowhere to go as they stood back to back and watched as the arena formed a solid room around them both.

"This is bad," commented Odd.

"Jeremie. Jeremie can you hear me?" Aelita called out, worried.

No response.

"Looks like we'll have to deal with this on our own."

Aelita nodded. The room was now complete. They stood in white silence.

"The scipizoa should appear any moment now," informed Aelita.

"Don't worry, I take care of him when he does."

Suddenly the room began to change. But instead of an opening for the evil squid thingy, something else was happening.

The walls on either side of the Lyoko fighters began to change colors, from a pure, blue-tinted white, to a menacing black-purple combo. What looked like sharpened tentacles slowly formed from the walls.

"What the he- AH!" The tentacles shot through the two warriors, piercing their virtual flesh…

------------- --------------- ------------------ ----------------- ------------------ ------------- --------

_Back in the Lab…_

"Ulrich! Yumi!" Jeremie called as they stepped from the elevator, both looking fairly worn out.

"Jeremie, any sign of Odd or Aelita?" Yumi asked.

Jeremie shook his head, "No, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that one of you is going to have to go back to Lyoko."

"What? Serious? But we've never done that before, is it alright?" Ulrich asked.

"I don't know, but we're going to have to find out. Otherwise, who knows what could happen to Aelita."

Ulrich nodded," I'll go then."

Yumi looked surprised, "You sure?"

"It's not like I have a choice. We need Jeremie out here, and you know there's no way I'm going to let you go back there."

Yumi blushed, 'Why don't we try waiting awhile, so we can regain our strength first?"

"No," said Jeremie, "We need to do this as fast as possible. We can't allow Xana anymore time than he already has."

Yumi looked down at her feet, "I understand. Be careful Ulrich."

Ulrich nodded, and headed down to the scanner room. Jeremie transferred him to Lyoko.

"Ulrich?" Jeremie called, "you there?"

"Yeah." Ulrich's voice came from Lyoko.

"How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted, but other than that, fine."

Yumi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, there's nothing physically wrong with you, that is, no stats have been changed to your character. I'm typing in the password now; go to the transporter pick-up area."

Ulrich obeyed, running as fast as he could. He really did feel exhausted. Not the kind you get during or after running in the real world, but virtual exhaustion. There was no severe gravity to cumber him, but it felt as though his limbs were made of steel and there were currents of electrical charges that seemed to sap away your ease to mobility with each jolt. When the eye-transporter picked him up, the rotation sent him onto his butt as he panted to regain the air that wasn't breathed in Lyoko. Ulrich's head was still spinning when he heard Jeremie's voice.

"Sector five is now opening." The voice reported.

"Ulrich, are you ok?" he heard Yumi ask.

"Fine," he croaked. To his relief, he saw Odd and Aelita running towards him.

Odd was waving.

"Hey, you came back for us," he chirped.

"Of course I did, did you really think we were going to leave Aelita here?" Odd shrugged, smiling brightly.

"Ulrich, are you alright? Why are you sitting down?" Aelita asked in concern.

"I- uh, I don't feel very well." He admitted.

"He went directly back into the scanner after being de-virtualized; apparently it does have some repercussions." Jeremy told them.

"Really? Right after getting de-virtualized in sector _five?_ Nice going buddy," Odd slapped him on the back, Ulrich lurched.

"Oops, sorry."

"Well, at least we know it's possible now," commented Aelita.

"Yeah, but I don't think it's anything any of us will want to do again," Ulrich groaned.

"Aelita, Odd, how are you two doing?" asked Jeremie, "For a while there I lost contact with you.

"So we noticed, "Odd said.

"We're fine Jeremie, A schizozoa did show up, but disappeared when sector five opened up again."

Jeremie sighed, "Good, alright then, I'm going to transfer you three back, get to a tower as soon as possible so I can de-virtualize Aelita.

"Right," agreed Ulrich and Odd.

------------ --------------- ------------- ----------------- --------------- --------------- ------------- -

_One week later…_

"Jeez Odd, I mean, you're always getting in trouble, but did you have to get Aelita involved too?" Ulrich walked along side his friend, hands tucked into his pockets.

"Hey! Sissy was asking for it, we _had_ to do something! And besides, Aelita agreed to it." Odd protested. Earlier that day Sissy been bad-mouthing Yumi again, calling her all sorts of names behind her back to Herve and Nicholas, and Odd and Aelita just happened to overhear. So Odd used that as an excuse to convince Aelita to help him 'accidentally' spill their trays all over her sexy new dress she had put on _just _for Ulrich. Unfortunately, when one picks on the principal's daughter, one usually doesn't get away scotch free.

"Fine," Ulrich said, "But I'm not going to be the one to explain to Jeremie why she has to serve a week's detention when we're supposed to be fighting Xana. We can deactivate towers without you or me Odd, but we _can't_ do anything without Aelita."

"Oh that's real nice," commented Odd, "but I don't see why it's such a problem, it'll be a good thing. Detention will be like a learning experience for her in the real world."

Ulrich rolled his eyes, "Only you would think of detention as a learning experience." Odd grinned.

"Anyways, I told Yumi I'd meet her at the park today. Good luck with Jim." Ulrich waved.

"Thanks, I'll need it," Odd waved to his friend, then headed over towards the gym.

When Jim saw him, he almost rolled his eyes, "Why am I not surprised. Odd, when are you _not_ in detention?"

Odd smiled, "On Sundays of course."

Jim scowled, "Well we can change that easily."

He handed the kid a broom and pointed to where Aelita was already sweeping, "I want you two to sweep the entire floor then mop it when you're done. We're giving the janitor a break today."

Odd groaned and took the broom.

"No goofing off and NO TALKING! Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Odd confirmed and walked over to Aelita and started sweeping rather slowly.

"Hurry up! I want this floor finished sometime tonight!" called Jim.

Odd groaned again while Aelita gave a small smile, "Is detention always this interesting?" she asked.

"Ecstatic," the blonde replied.

On the other side of the gym, Jim was sitting on the edge of the stage looking at Chicos Musculoso magazine when a mysterious purple mist-like aura flowed silently out of a nearby electric socket.

The ghost entered the gym teacher's ear with ease. Before he knew it, Jim was no longer reading his magazine, but staring at the two children with Xana-eye pupils.

Slowly and deliberately he walked over to them, glaring intently.

Aelita was the first to notice the change, "Jim?" she asked uncertainly. Jim's arm reached out and grasped the girl roughly by the collar.

"Aelita!" shouted Odd, but before he could take a single step towards them, waves of purple electricity were suddenly shooting over his body, painfully enough to bring him down to his knees.

"Precious, precious Aelita," the evil Jim cooed, "I think now is the time for you to carry out my will. Since you now seem to be such an expert on this 'real' world, I'll leave the details up to you."

He threw her onto the ground and Evil Jim walked out of the gymnasium.

The electric waves ceased and Odd got up and walked over to where Aelita had fallen.

He offered out a hand to her, "Well, you heard him Princess," he smiled tiredly, "Let's go."

Aelita smiled back as she took his hand, "Yeah, we wouldn't want to make Xana angry now would we?"

* * *

Heh heh heh heh heh.

Please leave a **review** and your thoughts.


	5. Fire!

Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't know it wasn't out in the UK yet! That is so screwed up, you guys are like right next to France and America is far away and we're somehow getting it first. Usually it takes forever for stuff to come out here.

Anyways, if you haven't seen season two yet don't read any further! Ive been referencing quite frequently recent episodes of season two and I'd hate to spoil things for you : (

Thanks **ReddistheRose, D.D.Z., **and** American-Kitty **for your reviews.

And thank you **tehrandomkitten, Mercsha, **and **Faunamon** for correcting me on the spelling. My memory obviously failed on the password and I had to sound out the evil squid thingy's name. So yeah, I think I fixed the major errors…

**Tehrandomkitten-** how do you know so much about season two even though you haven't seen it?

**Tehrandomkitten **and **Faunomon –** I'm lost, what does scipizoa and how is it an oxymoron?

**Mercsha**- thank you very very much for your critical review. No date mentioned? How sad… anyways, yeah, I'll refrain from all a/n's interrupting the story : )

Also as a note, it'll be a longer break between chapters for now on, probably. I'm getting pretty busy, but I'll still try to update regularly.

* * *

Odd sat on a bench outside of the school, one leg folded across the other leaning forward so that his elbow rested on his knee and supported his chin. The afternoon sun was setting. He was staring at the newly announced couple – Ulrich and Yumi. The only surprise there was that they actually came out and said it, rather than being 'modest' and keeping it to themselves.

Odd smiled sadly. It really was unfortunate the way things would turn out; after all they had just gotten together…

The blonde looked up at the approach of new footsteps.

"Hey Odd," Jeremy asked as he sat down next to him, "have you seen Ulrich or Yumi lately?"

Odd silently pointed to the pair in the distance. Jeremy sighed, "I'm glad for them and all, I just hope having an open relationship won't interfere with Lyoko."

"Oh yeah like you're one to talk Jeremy, I mean, all those times you spent talking to Aelita all might, alone, in your room before she was virtualized" Odd stood up and stretched.

Jeremy blushed, "Hey! Just what are you suggesting?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," Odd winked.

"A-Anyways, where's Aelita now? I haven't seen her around since class ended." Jeremy said, trying to change the subject.

"Why? What are you going with her _Jeremy_?" Odd asked suggestively.

"Odd! I'm_ not_ going to do anything to her. What makes you even _think_ that?" Jeremy defended, standing up with his hands on his hips.

"I didn't ask if you were going to do anything _to_ her, I ask what you were going to do _with_ her. But if you prefer to do something to her I guess it's not my place to butt in."

"_Odd!_" Jeremy snapped.

"Ok, ok fine," Odd turned around and started walking away, "She went back to her room after detention, she seemed pretty tired, I wouldn't bug her if I were you," he waved over his shoulder as he head back to his own dorm.

Jeremy sighed, was it just him or was Odd getting even more annoying lately?

"Jeremy! what are you doing out here?" Yumi asked as she and Ulrich walked towards him.

"I was just talking to Odd actually," he informed. Ulrich sat down on the bench where his blonde-haired friend was sitting just a moment ago.

"He wasn't spying on us again was he?" Jeremy grinned, it was his turn to poke a little fun at his friends.

"Why? Were you doing something you _shouldn't_ have been?"

Ulrich and Yumi both looked down at their feet in embarrassment.

"Anyways, I should be heading home, call me if something comes up," Yumi said, giving Ulrich that special look as she left.

"It's getting late, we should turn in as well," Ulrich stated and they both left for their dorm building. When Ulrich entered his room he found Odd already inside, fast asleep, yet surprisingly not snoring. Despite this, Ulrich still put in his ear plugs just in case.

----------------- ------------------ ----------------- ---------------------------- ---------------

Around midnight or so, Ulrich was slowly risen out of a foggy slumber. It was really warm and the air smelt foul and dry. The brunette sat up and rubbed his eyes, which were dry as well. He glanced around the hazy room and spotted his roommate sitting by the door, coughing

"Odd?" he questioned, his voice cracked. He tried to swallow but found he was lacking sufficient saliva to do so.

"Odd?" he called again, slowly walking over to him. Odd looked up from his position on the floor.

"Odd what's wrong, what's going on?" Ulrich whispered.

His blonde-haired friend, still dressed in his bed clothes, glanced at the door nervously.

Taking a guess, Ulrich carefully gripped the doorknob. It was warm, hot even. He let it go and pressed his ear against the wood. Crackling and popping could be heard from a distance.

"Xana," hissed Ulrich, he turned towards Odd, "Why didn't you wake me up? Does Jeremy know?"

"I already called him, Yumi and Aelita have already headed towards the factory. I think most everybody has evacuated the building, though a few are still stuck inside." Odd reported as he coughed again.

"Well what are you sitting there for?" cried Ulrich, he quickly grabbed his and Odd's pillow off the bed and stuffed them by the crack under the door as to keep even more smoke from leaking into their room. He then opened their window and peered out. Odd was right, a group of students, along with Jim and the principal, who were standing many meters from the building, staring at the inferno.

Odd stood up, "sorry I didn't wake you, but by the time I woke up we were already trapped. I think Jeremy tried to call us but my phone was on vibrate so I didn't here anything."

"Yeah, mine too. Dammit! What are we going to do? We have to get out of here somehow and quick!" Ulrich once again stared out at the window.

Odd shrugged despairingly, "I checked already, the stairways are already on fire, there's no where for us to go. I guess we're going to have to just wait for Yumi and Aelita to deactivate the tower or until the firemen arrive. Either way will probably still be too late."

"Then we'll have to try the roof," he decided, "we take everyone else who is also trapped with us."

"The roof! Are you crazy Ulrich? What if the building collapses or something, the roof is the worst place to be!" Odd shouted frantically waving his arms.

"Odd, if we don't, we'll either one, suffocate, or two, be burned alive. At least on the roof we have a chance of waiting this out."

"But…oh fine," Odd looked down, despair creeping back into his voice again. Ulrich was about to brave the door once again when he finally realized something.

"Where's Kiwi?"

-------------------- ---------------------- ------------------- -------------------- ---------------- ------

"Virtualization"

Yumi and Aelita dropped to the ground in Lyoko, in the mountain sector to be exact.

"The activated tower is exactly forty degrees to your right. Be careful, there are some monsters guarding the tower," Jeremie clued them in.

"Jeremie, heard anything from Odd and Ulrich yet?" Yumi asked while they ran in the direction of the tower.

"They're stuck inside the school building with the fire; Ulrich said they're going to try to round up some of the other kids and head for the roof to buy some time. Fires spread really fast, Yumi, you guys have to hurry." Jeremie informed.

"Got it," said Yumi, "What about our vehicles?"

"One step ahead of you." No sooner had he spoken did their vehicles appear, "Hurry! Two tarantulas are on your tail!"

"Two of them!" exclaimed Yumi, she turned to Aelita, "we're going to have to out run them, there's no way I'll be able to take care of both of them myself. Use my vehicle and head for the tower, I'll distract them."

Aelita nodded, "Right," and headed off for the tower.

------------------------- ----------------------- ----------------------- ---------------------- -----------

Ulrich opened a dorm room door to find a boy called Thomas sleeping soundly in his bed. He hurried over to wake him up.

"Huh…Wha-Ulrich! What are you doing in my room?" Thomas exclaimed.

"No time to explain, there's a fire! Head for the roof top, bring anyone you find up with you!"

Shocked, and suddenly very widely awake, Thomas nodded and rushed out of the door. Ulrich went out into the hallway to find two other boys rushing out of their dorms as well, shortly followed by Odd.

"I think that's the last of them," Odd reported, disheartened.

Ulrich put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, I'm sure Kiwi made it out alright, dogs are smart animals."

Odd sighed, "I know, I just can't believe he ran out like that. The building could have collapsed on him!"

Just then there was some cracking and groaning behind them.

"If we don't hurry, the building will collapse on _us_!" They ran into another hall where the smoke was getting thicker by the second.

Ulrich squinted, it was hard to breathe, it'd be safer if they crawled under the smoke, but he wasn't sure if they'd have enough time then to reach the roof. Odd and himself raced for the next stairway, and came out on the level right before the roof.

Odd stopped, "Hey look! I think someone is still there!" he pointed down the hall. He rushed forward. Ulrich tried to peer through the smoke but couldn't see anything.

"Odd wait!" he called out. He took a step forward but the floor groaned loudly. Suddenly floorboards underneath his feet collapsed and Ulrich found himself falling into the raging fires below…

-------------------- ------------------ --------------- -------------------- -------------- ----------------

"Hyah!" Yumi called out as she simultaneously hurled her fans at the target on her enemy's forehead. Each fan missed and the tarantula raised his legs and fired at her.

While Yumi flipped and dodged the lasers, the other tarantula scurried past her after Aelita.

"No!" Yumi called out after it as a laser struck her midsection and sent her flying back a few feet.

"Yumi! You have only ten life points left! Don't get hit again!" commanded Jeremie.

"You think I don't know that?" Yumi retorted as she jumped up above the tarantula and lodged her fan into the whites of its eyes. The monster exploded. "Happy now?" she asked confidently, hands on hips.

"I wouldn't relax yet, the other tarantula is catching up to Aelita!"

"I'm right on it Jeremie!" Yumi reported. She ran after the tarantula.

-------------------- --------------------------- -------------------------------------------- --------- ----

"ULRICH!" cried Odd as he saw his friend falling through the floor. He leapt, hand stretched out to his friend. Just barely he managed to grab a hold of Ulrich's outstretched hand.

Ulrich hanged on for dear life. The heat was almost unbearable and the smoke was incredibly thick. All around him he could hear sections of the building falling prey to the flames, adding fuel to them as they climbed their way higher and higher…

------------------- -------------------- -------------------- ---------------- -------------- ------------

"Aelita!" Yumi cried as her pink-haired friend tripped on the rocky mountain ground. The tarantula was gaining on her quickly.

"HYAH!" Yumi threw her fans, attempting to distract the predator. It worked. The tarantula turned and fired at Yumi, instantly de-virtualizing her.

However the distraction gave Aelita enough time to get back up on her feet and enter the tower.

"Phew," Jeremie breathed out in respite as he sat back in his chair. They had made it through another Xana attack…barely. He could only hope that his friends would be ok and that no one had died during the fire. If so, they wouldn't be coming back.

Aelita entered the code.

------------------- -------------------- ----------------- ------------------ ------------- ------------- --

Ulrich could feel Odd's grip on him slipping. Any second now he thought he would plunder to his death.

Suddenly, time froze. It was then Ulrich knew he wouldn't be dying anytime that day..

He looked back up at Odd who was still supporting him and was surprised to find him looking down at him desperately with pleading eyes.

"Sorry Ulrich," he said as the white light overtook their world.

--------------------- --------------------- ---------------------- ------------------ -------------- ---- -

_Earlier that day…_

All five were hanging around their usual bench.

"That...was a close one," commented Ulrich.

"Yeah no kidding, Aelita almost didn't make it in time." Yumi agreed.

"Well, it seems Xana is back to his normal extremely dangerous self." Jeremie stated.

"Well lucky for us it seems no one died in that last attack," Aelita added.

"Yeah, although Ulrich almost-" Odd's eyes got wide, "Oh no Kiwi!" he exclaimed, abruptly racing towards his dorm to see if his canine friend had made it.

"Man, what would Odd do without Kiwi," Ulrich shook his head.

"Maybe he'd realize it was karma and try studying for once?" suggested Jeremie.

Yumi snorted, "Yeah right, the apocalypse would come before that'd happen."

They laughed, though, for some reason, Ulrich didn't find it all that funny.

* * *

(A/N) yeah yeah, I know, not-so-great chapter. It's just a filler for right now until I can get later chapter's organized..

So yeah, till next time.

And please **review!**


	6. Breakup I

**Disclaimer: **oN nwO

(A/N) this is like, half a chapter, I'll get the rest up soon.

Thnx **xheartkreuzx, American-Kitty, **and **ReddistheRose **for thy reviews.

**Tehrandomkitten- **oh, I thought scipizoa was an oxymoron…

* * *

"Yumi!" Ulrich cried out. She was falling!

"Ulrich!" She cried back, wide-eye, hands reaching out towards him.

It had been another everyday Xana attack. It wasn't much, really, Xana had gained control over the wires hooked up throughout the school, so suddenly countless numbers of electrical whips were flinging about, electrocuting anything- or anyone- in its path. Yumi, and Ulrich immediately took Aelita to the factory while Odd stayed behind to help any stragglers as well as Jeremie, who was unfortunately in the computer room at the time of the attack.

Luckily for them, Aelita was able to transfer the three to Lyoko without any serious set backs. Unluckily for them, an entire army of Kankrelats was there waiting for them, and without Jeremie to virtualize their vehicles for them, they were a huge problem.

Yumi was at the edge of the forest path when one of those midget monsters lasers threw her off balance. Before she knew it, she was falling into the digital void…

Ulrich caught her hand at the very last possible second.

"Yumi!" he cried, taking a laser in the back, "I won't let you fall!"

"No Ulrich! You have to protect Aelita from the scipizoa!" Yumi protested. Aelita, at that moment, was alone, fending herself from the evil god-forsaken jellyfish.

"NO! I swear I won't let you go!" Another Kankrelat warmed up its laser.

Ulrich knew he only had a few hits left before he would be de-virtualized. At that point, Yumi would fall…

Suddenly a new fire of determination lit in his eyes at the thought of loosing his beloved more-than-friend. With one hand holding Yumi's, the other reached for his sword and hurled it at the little bugger. The monster exploded and Ulrich pulled Yumi up with all his might. Soon they found themselves staring face to face at each other, utterly breathless for more than one reason.

"Ah!" Aelita cried out, the tentacles of the scipizoa wrapping themselves around her waist.

"Aelita!" Yumi and Ulrich called simultaneously. They rushed towards her, more kankrelats firing on their tails.

Ulrich was de-virtualized the same moment Yumi let her fans loose at the blue glowing jellyfish-squid anomaly.

"Ulrich!" she called after him as her fans struck home. The scipizoa backed off and Aelita fell to the ground.

Yumi called out her name and ran to her side.

"You're all right!" exclaimed Aelita, before Yumi had the chance to do the same, "I thought that you'd fallen into the digital void."

Yumi got a wishy-washy look in her eyes, "Well, if it wasn't for Ulrich, I wouldn't be here right now. C'mon, get to the tower while I hold them off," she waved to the kankrelats.

Aelita nodded and rushed forward. A few moments later she had entered the code to cease Xana's attack. Back at the school building, a couple of soulless wires fell limp, Odd, Jeremie, Jim, William, and a few other students that had been fighting them off stared at the wires in confusion.

"That's it," said Jim, "I'm calling the electrician."

------------ --------------------- ---------------------- ---------------- --------------- -------- ------ -

Aelita sat on the bed in her room, knees pulled up to her chin. Jim had indeed called the electrician, several of them actually, and many hours later, after they had inspected the school and re-hooked up the wires, they deemed it safe for everyone to return to their business.

It was late, and everyone else had gone to bed. Aelita wrapped her arms around her legs and stared mindlessly at the wall.

_If it wasn't for Ulrich…_Aelita remembered the happy-sappy look on Yumi's face when she said that.

'There's something about those two that I have seen several times in my world and in theirs, what is their strength that keeps them alive?'

Aelita sighed, _I think it's what the others call love, the strongest bond that can hold two beings together._

'Strong bond indeed, many a time have on of them almost been destroyed, then to be miraculously be saved by the other. A most curious strength, yet it's one that cannot be seen…'

_It can't be seen, but it's always there. And it's such a good thing too. Sometimes, I'd like to think that I am 'in love' with Jeremie, _Aelita thought of the blonde-haired boy who was probably working furiously on her anti-virus right now.

'Could this love perhaps be their greatest weakness as well as their greatest strength?'

Aelita thought back to all the times Yumi and Ulrich were fighting or upset over each other. They could definitely be a pain sometimes, especially that time when Ulrich tried to impress Yumi, but failed drastically. He was depressed for the rest of the day and almost didn't make it in time to save them from the marabounta.

_Yes, _she thought.

'This great power has been in the way more oft than not. It needs to be completely and utterly destroyed, leaving them all quite vulnerable and weaker than ever.'

_Yes Xana_, Aelita agreed.

---------------- ------------------- ----------------------------- ------------------- --------------- -----

_The Next Day…_

Yumi approached Ulrich during lunch hour.

"Thanks Ulrich, you know, for saving my life yesterday." She almost blushed.

"Of course, you know I wouldn't let anything happen to you, not ever." He replied confidently.

At that moment, William approached them, "Hey Yumi, I was wondering, if, you know, if you wanted to go out sometime after school?"

Yumi looked flattered, she really did, but side-glanced at Ulrich, "I'm sorry, William, but I already have plans."

William glared at Ulrich, who glared back at him with a vengeance, "I see, well then, maybe some other time?"

"Maybe," replied Yumi. William walked back inside the cafeteria. He approached a pretty pink-haired seventh grader.

"Are you sure she has a thing for me? I'm pretty sure Yumi just blew me off back there." He told the girl what happened.

Aelita smiled sweetly, "You know how she feels around Ulrich don't you? She feels guilty, they used to be pretty good friends you know."

William looked at her skeptically, "How would you know? I thought you just recently transferred here."

"I did, but Odd has told me all about their relationship before I came here," Aelita informed, "you need to catch her when she's alone sometime, I think it would work better then."

"Right," said William.

Aelita leaned forward, "Oh wait, I have an idea. Do you know who Elizabeth Delmas is?"

William raised an eyebrow, "The principal's daughter? I met her at the swimming pool this one time, what about her?"

"Well, you know who she's been in love with for a very long time don't you? Why don't you ask her for help? I'm sure she would be glad to help you with Yumi if you helped her with Ulrich, then everyone will be happy won't they?" Aelita suggested.

William thought about it for a while, then, slowly, understanding washed over his features.

"Man," he laughed, running a hand through his hair, "I can't believe I'm getting love advice from a seventh grader."

"You shouldn't mind," Aelita blushed as she glanced across the cafeteria, "after all, I know what it's like to be in love with someone who's not ready to love you back…"

William followed her gaze to the boy genius picking at his food.

He laughed again, "Well good luck yourself, later kid,"

_Maybe someday soon,_ thought Aelita staring at Jeremy.

William started to walk away, then suddenly turned back around.

"Oh that's right. I've been trying to get an o-k with the principal for a techno club. If it gets through, do you want to join?"

Aelita's eyes lit up, "I would love to!" she exclaimed.

"All right," William grinned, "good, we really need someone like you there." he waved and left the cafeteria.

Aelita got up and walked over to Jeremie, who was sitting with just Odd at the moment.

"What was that about?" Jeremie asked.

Aelita sat down, "William was just telling me about a new techno club he's been trying to start."

"Sweet!" exclaimed Odd, with a mouth full of food, "You think I could join? You know, just to watch and all? You were awesome at the dance by the way, Aelita."

Aelita blushed, "Yes Odd, you've told me that several times, I don't think William would mind if you joined too."

"Hey Jeremie, you should try joining too!" Odd suddenly blurted out.

"Why?" Jeremie asked, taking another slow bite of food.

"Because, well, Aelita's really good at computers and she made some awesome mixes, and you're the smarter kid in Kadic Junior High, so maybe you'd be really good at it and all too!"

Jeremie raised an eyebrow, "I don't know Odd…Besides, I still need to work on that antivirus," he informed.

"Jeremie please?" Aelita begged, "It'd be fun! I think that you'd enjoy it a lot. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to have just a little fun every now and then would it?" _Do it for me?_ She thought inside her head.

Jeremie blushed and looked away, a finger tugging at the neck of his shirt, "I-I don't know, I guess it wouldn't hurt…"

Odd stood up with a great big smile on his face, "Then it's settled, I'm gonna tell William that he already has three new members!"

He was just about to walk away from a protesting Jeremie when the bell signaling for class rang.

"Aw man, I guess I'll let him know after school" he said, truly crestfallen.

Aelita smiled and tugged on Jeremie's arm, "C'mon, you don't want to be late for class do you?" she asked as she dragged her blushing friend along with her out of the cafeteria.

As they left for another building, Aelita could see William talking to Sissy out of the corner of her eye.

* * *

**REVIEW**


	7. Breakup II

**Disclaimer:** Go away little lawyer.

Um, thnx for the reviews all you regulars.

Stupid tv series, it's gonna steal all my ideas : ( wait, never mind, it cant, or else they'd hafta to change the rating.

Ha ha not.

* * *

(Takes place after the most recent episode…)

"You know, you could always try being a bit nicer," the tall raven-haired boy stated matter-of-factly.

Sissy tossed her hair over her shoulder, "I know, but I want Ulrich to like me for the way I am."

William shrugged, "Nobody likes a bitch."

Sissy threw her hands up in exasperation, "Fine, ok already! Why do you care so much anyways?"

"Because, I benefit as much as you do." William explained.

Sissy spun around to face him, "Alright! But what are _you_ going to do to make Yumi like you better?"

William grinned, "Nothing, Yumi likes me just the way I am. Speaking of which, there she is over there," he headed over to where Yumi was talking with Odd, "Don't forget."

Sissy rolled her eyes and met up with Nicholas and Herve. As they were walking to school building, she past the trio of Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich.

"Oh, what a surprise, Yumi isn't here with you losers," she feigned innocence, ignoring William's advice, "oh that's right, last I saw her she was talking with _William_, ha ha," she walked away, giving a little smile at Ulrich as she left.

Ulrich didn't say much as Yumi and Odd joined them. The three boys then walked off behind Sissy. Yumi was asking Aelita some weirdo question.

As Sissy approached the building, Ulrich actually _opened_ the door for her and _smiled _too. Sissy didn't say anything as she walked in, Nicholas and Herve behind her, but she was taken aback. _Maybe I _should_ start being nicer…_

-------------- ---------------- --------------- -------------- ---------------- --------------- -------------

_A day or so later…_

"You know…" started Odd, "Yumi's been awful friendly with William lately."

"Odd, I don't wanna hear it," Ulrich warned, lying on his back in his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"I was just saying you might wanna start thinking about other options, like, let's say…oh I don't know, _Sissy,_" Odd teased.

Ulrich rubbed his temples, "For the last time, _I don't wanna hear it!_" He growled. His relationship problems were already bad enough with Yumi accusing him of flirting with the principal's bratty daughter. Think, _him_, F-L-I-R-T-I-N-G with _Sissy!_ It was outrageous! Preposterous! Although he did have to admit she has been a lot kinder to him lately…

Ulrich pounded his head repeatedly with his fists, _No no no, must not think like that._

He stopped pounding himself and stared blankly at the wall, mind wandering.

It _was_ actually kind of nice when she kissed him. One thing for sure, just like she said, it was something he'd never for-

_No no no no. NO!_ He resumed beating himself up again. _You kissed Yumi, you _liked_ kissing Yumi, Yumi is the one and only for you, _he told himself.

All this while, his best friend was watching him, amused.

"What's wrong Ulrich? Finding out that you're in love with someone you're not supposed to be?" the blonde taunted.

Ulrich sat up and glared at him. "Odd, I am NOT in love with Sissy. I don't care what you or anyone else says or thinks alright? Now if you will just _please_ leave me alone."

Odd arched an eyebrow, "Anyone? What about Yumi? What if _she_ said you were in love with Sissy? Would it mean that it's true then?"

"Odd!" Ulrich stood up, pillow ready to throw, "I am not joking, shut up or _leave,_ you got that?"

Odd shrugged, "Hey hey, I was just sayin-"

Ulrich tossed the pillow and landed squarely in his face. "Leave!" he commanded.

Odd sighed, "Fine, sheesh. You don't have to be a jerk about it…" he commented, giving a small wave goodbye as he left the room. Down the hall Ulrich could hear him laughing maniacally.

Ulrich flopped down on his bed and covered his ears, _Why?_ He thought, _is the whole world against me?_

He remembered back to when everything was so simple, if you could even describe love in that way. He knew then, that he loved Yumi and she loved him back. That was all, right?

Then what did he do to make everyone distrust him so much? Well, sure Sissy kissed him and now he was standing up for her, but that didn't mean that he was in love with her right? And it was only natural that he'd do so right? After all, she _did_ practically save his life, even if she didn't remember it.

If anything, he'd be falling in love with the part of her that even she didn't know she possessed. Along with fighting off the zombies and the whole incident in the elevator, she could be a very admirable person.

But compared to Yumi, what he felt for her wasn't love. Well, at least not in that sense. Sometimes he did think he felt some kind of affection for her, perhaps a slightly protective affection, but it wasn't near the same kind of love and affection and responsibility to protect that he felt for the Asian girl.

Ulrich rolled onto his back. Now that he had sorted it all out in his head, he couldn't help but feel slightly more optimistic.

_Maybe,_ he thought, _No. Definitely, things will get better…_

----------- ------------- ---------------- -------------- ------------- ---------- -------------- ----------

_Time to start plan B, _grinned Sissy, _Finally. Ulrich has to fall in love with me after this._

She looked up at the clocked, fifteen minutes 'til showtime.

Discreetly, she spared a glance at the boy of her dreams sitting next to his best friend in class. Ulrich was frowning at the paper placed in front of him.

_He looks so cute when he's working so hard…_She smiled at him.

"Sissy!" snapped Mrs. Hertz, "Pay attention in class!"

Sissy blushed as she heard snickers from boy wonder and co. behind her, "Y-Yes 'm!"

----------- ------------------ ----------------------- ------------------- ------------- ------------ -------

_After Class…_

"Hey Yumi, can I-uh, talk to you for a minute?" William asked.

Yumi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Sure Will, what is it?"

"Follow me," he grabbed her hand and dragged her outside, to an appointed spot in the courtyard.

When they reached it, William turned around to face Yumi, making sure her back was facing the school building.

_There,_ he thought, engaging the Asian girl in some small talk to pass quick time, _that brat better show up soon._ He gazed into Yumi's beautiful eyes while she talked. _It's kinda cruel but it's the only way to get that pesky Ulrich of our back. Still, I can't believe that little Aelita thought up of such a mean plan all by herself. Isn't she supposed to be their friend?_

William shook his head, _She must really want our relationship to work out, what a nice girl she must be…_

"William?" questioned Yumi, looking up at him in concern, "Is there something wrong?"

"Uh- no Yumi, it's just that-" Behind her, William saw Sissy turn the corner of the building, with Ulrich in tow.

"I just wanted to ask you something but- oh, oh my," he heard Sissy fake surprise as the two spotted them.

_This is my cue_, thought William, seeing Ulrich watch with great interest.

"-I wanted to say that I love you Yumi," He proclaimed loudly for everyone in the surrounding area to hear. Roughly, he grabbed the surprised girl's shoulders and smacked his lips onto hers, in a forceful, but passionate kiss. He saw her turn beet red before closing his eyes, finishing the appearance of a quite romantic love seen.

He felt Yumi shift uncomfortably under his touch, compared to his own confidence and passion. Kissing ladies wasn't exactly a new thing for him.

Ulrich stared unbelieving, jealously was written all over his face. Sissy had a hard time not smiling in pleasure and not breaking her innocent-girl act. Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita had also chosen that time to come walking into the area.

When they finally broke, Yumi looked astonished at her classmate. "William, I-"

Sissy cleared her throat loudly and sassily. Yumi abruptly spun around to face her audience. Ulrich glared utter hell on her and William before turning around with a look of hurt and betrayal on his face, and ran away.

Yumi seethed at William, immediately recognizing the trick.

"You bastard," she swore, and ran off, as any girl would do in such a situation.

William and Sissy's gaze met one another's briefly and they each gave the other a mental thumbs up. Plan B had worked brilliantly.

Calmly, they both turned away to walk after their respective partners.

"Jeez," commented Odd, breaking up the tense atmosphere, "looks like even more trouble's on the road for Yumi and Ulrich."

"I know," Jeremie agreed, "But I can believe that William and Sissy just did that."

"You're right," Odd spoke dramatically, "Sissy being a bitch? Who'd have ever guessed?"

"This is terrible," Aelita commented, "should we see if they're all right?"

Jeremie pushed his glasses back up on his nose, "No, I think it'd be best if we left them alone for now. C'mon, we're going to be late for class again if we don't hurry."

--------------- ---------------- ------------------ ---------------- ------------- ---------- --------------

"Yumi! Yumi stop! Please," William called out. Yumi stopped running, they were in the forest, close to the manhole now.

"William, did you plan all that? To hurt Ulrich so he'd leave me alone? She screamed, barely able her fury contained.

"No Yumi, I swear. It was all just a big mistake. Please, believe me. I wouldn't do something like that would?" William pleaded.

Yumi turned around, still somewhat upset, "I believe you William. It's just that I don't think Ulrich will…"

"You should try to talk him?" William suggested.

"Yeah right, there's no way he'll listen to me now," Yumi admitted.

William gave her a soft smile, "You won't know unless you try."

Yumi smiled back at him, "Yeah, you're right," she leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek, "Thanks, though I'm sorry I don't feel the same." She ran back towards the school, in search of her long-time friend.

William was left standing alone, feeling quite low and disgusted with himself…

------------ -------------- ------------ ----------- --------------- -------- -------- ----------- ---------

"Ulrich! Ulrich dear! Where'd you go? You're going to be late for class!" Sissy called out.

"Don't call me dear," she heard him grumble. She saw him sitting on the ground by the wall of the school building.

"Ulrich! You must be feeling awful, though after what Yumi did to you I'm sure anyone else would feel the same." She faked her concern.

"Can it Sissy, I know you and William set that up to tear us apart," Ulrich accused.

Sissy looked surprised, "Yeah? And? What are you gonna do about it?"

Ulrich picked up a pebble off the ground and examined it. "I don't know," he responded honestly.

Sissy sat down next to him, this time with real concern, she stared at his face.

"You know," Ulrich went on, "it kinda scares me, the look on Yumi's face after _William_ kissed her…it kinda looked like she enjoyed it."

"Of course," commented Sissy, "It's how any girl would look after being kissed by some hot guy."

Ulrich glared at her. "You're not helping any," he stated.

"Sorry, I'm not very good at this kind of thing," Sissy admitted.

"So I've noticed," Ulrich spat, "Anyways, it scares me to think what Yumi would have done if we weren't…there when… I don't know it's all so confusing!" he threw his pebble away.

"Here," Sissy said, leaning closer to him, "Let me help clear things up a little," she kissed him softly on the lips, unbeknownst to her, for the second time in a couple of days.

Ulrich went wide-eyed, especially when he saw Yumi coming out of the woods, spotting them.

Sissy broke off and glanced at Yumi, a sick smile on her face.

"Score two for you huh?" Ulrich commented sourly.

Sissy only grinned and stood up, "Oh well, I best be going. Wouldn't want to interfere with a _lovers_ quarrel now would I?" She left the two.

Yumi glared at Ulrich, clearly pissed.

"And what was that about?" she accused.

"Exactly what it looked like," Ulrich responded, instead of coming up with excuses. He was sick of them.

"Oh I get it, an eye for an eye, a kiss for a kiss huh?" Yumi glowered.

Ulrich figured it was his turn to do something radical for the day. "Yep," he said, standing up and walking over to Yumi. He put an arm around her neck and kissed her himself for once. When the kiss broke, the mood changed from anger to regret.

"I guess," Yumi started, "if we're going to let such a little thing like this tear us apart…"

"Then we weren't ready for each other to begin with," Ulrich finished.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Yumi turned around to walk away, "Yeah, me too."

* * *

(A/N) I'm sorry too, for the cheesiness and William being so out of character.

Anywho, **REVIEW**


	8. Break out

**Disclaimer:** silly lawyers, suing is for celebrities and McDonald's customers.

(A/N) sorry for the wait and the weird chapter.

Speacial thanks to my new reviewer kikofreako for your review. And, um, thanks everybody else too.

**Anime Blob-** that's too bad. I was looking forward to that song…

**Faunamon- **Thanks very much for your insightful review. I'll keep that in mind for the future.

**D.D.Z-** I thought Japanese were asian? At least, theyre right next to the asian continent….

**ReddistheRose-** . . . #-# o.O

**Xheartkreuzx- **yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

**Tehrandomkitten-** that fact still makes me very depressed because season two is so very good.

* * *

"Class, we have a new student today, her name is Amelie, please welcome her," Mrs. Hertz indicated to an unfamiliar girl in the back. She had short blonde hair and big wide glasses. A couple of the students next to her gave her a small hello before resuming their concentration in class.

------------------------ ------------------------------- --------------------- --------------------- -

"Hello Jeremie, Ulrich," Aelita greeted as she sat down next to Ulrich at their lunch table. Ulrich didn't respond, he was too busy glaring at Yumi who sat with William.

"Hey Aelita, how was class today?" Jeremie asked kindly.

"It was, well, I guess it was-" she started, but was interrupted by Sissy.

"Why hello there _Ulrich_," she sneered. Ulrich completely ignored her, still glaring at his one-time girlfriend.

Sissy traced his glare and smirked, "Here Ulrich, you look kinda depressed, why don't you let _me_ cheer you up?"

Again, no response. So Sissy took it upon herself to drag Ulrich out of his seat and lead him offwards, away from the sight of Yumi. Ulrich didn't resist and he didn't really help either. He was just kind of out of it.

Aelita and Jeremie stared silently after them.

"Well, that was rather…odd," Aelita commented, "speaking of which, where is he? I don't think he - out of all people - would want to miss lunch."

Jeremie shrugged, "I don't know, I think he was outside last I saw."

Aelita stared at her plate of untouched food, feeling rather down. "I'm not really hungry, I think I'll go check up on him," she said as she got up from her seat, leaving Jeremie to eat his lunch alone.

Jeremie watched her leave.

_Man,_ he thought, _What's happening to us? Ever since Yumi and Ulrich broke up, everything's just fallen apart. I better not think about it too much, though, things usually work out in the end anyways…_

Jeremie took a bite of the cafeteria mush, trying not to think back to the last time he had to eat alone. Right then an unfamiliar girl approached him nervously, "E-excuse me, may I sit here?"

Jeremie looked at her, pushing his glasses back up on his face, "Sure. I mean, no one else is right now."

The girl sat down with a smile, "Thanks, I'm new here so I don't know anybody yet."

Jeremie properly extended a hand, "I'm Jeremie Belpois. You're that new girl Mrs. Hertz introduced in science class today right?"

The girl nodded, "Right, I'm Amelie Bretodeau, nice to meet you."

Silence pursued for a few moments, the new girl stabbed at her food awkwardly.

"So…um, what kind of things are you into Jeremie?" she ask, attempting at some sort of conversation.

Jeremie took a bite of his meat pie and swallowed. "Computers," he replied simply.

"Really? So am I- uh, sorta. I'm really into the chat programs and forums." She said.

"Ever tried a hand at programming?" he asked.

"My brother's really good at it, I've tried some things, like trying to make my own website and all. It was really complicated." She admitted.

That wasn't really the kind of programming Jeremie was talking about, but he shrugged it off. At least she had an interest. "Really? Did you finish it?"

Amelie shook her head, "No. I messed up somewhere and screwed up our computer. It took my brother hours to fix it! Since then hasn't let me tried anything like that again!" she whined.

Jeremie laughed, "Well, where do you think you made a mistake?" he asked curiously. She said she wasn't sure and tried to explain the details of her attempt. Jeremie listened intently and pointed out parts where she had done wrong and what she should have done instead. Eventually it became quite clear that she had know idea what she had been doing and it was no wonder that her brother's computer crashed because of it.

After a while the shy girl began to warm up a bit more to Jeremie's company and they began to talk about other things: the school, the teachers, the average amount of homework per day, and what the dorms were like. They avoided the topic of other students and friends, mainly because she didn't have any and Jeremie's own friends were having problems that he really couldn't explain to her. Before they knew it lunch was over and classes were about to begin again.

Aelita and Odd entered the building to see Jeremie and the new girl talking and laughing together. Odd went his own way, but Aelita felt a twinge of emotion inside her that she didn't recognize at the moment. It faded away with the day and was completely forgotten by the time she took her evening shower.

That night, Jeremie lied in his bed, thinking about the day that didn't go nearly as bad as he thought. Besides his friends ditching him at lunch and all, everything went kinda well. No Xana attack, no loud heart-breaking argument between Yumi, William, Ulrich and Sissy. And best of all, he wasn't alone for most of the day as he thought he would be. The new girl wasn't half bad, besides being a total ditz on computers that is.

Jeremie yawned and settled off to sleep.

--------------- ------------------ --------------- ----------------- --------------- ------------ ----------

The next day after school Aelita found Jeremie walking out with the new blonde he had met the preceding day. She approached them.

"Ok Jeremie, see you at one tomorrow!" the girl chirped happily. Jeremie waved as she walked off.

"Who was that?" Aelita asked.

"That's the new girl in science, Amelie." He told her.

"Oh yeah, I remember her."

"Yeah, anyways, I'm going to help her set up her own website tomorrow." He said as they walked together.

Aelita was confused, "Is that hard?"

"For her yes, for you it probably wouldn't be too difficult. You'd just have to learn how we operate and use the internet here, it's much much simpler than anything dealing with Lyoko and the supercomputer, but it's definitely a lot different," he explained.

"I see." Aelita said as she saw Yumi trotting towards them.

"Hi guys," Yumi greeted.

"Hi Yumi, haven't seen much of you in a while," Jeremie commented bitterly.

Yumi shrugged. "I've been hanging out with William lately," she explained.

"So we've noticed," Aelita muttered.

"Anyways, I thought I'd check up on the Lyoko life." Yumi said.

"Well, Lyoko life has been wonderful, no Xana attacks whatsoever," Jeremie replied.

"Ok then, I'll be off," Yumi waved hurriedly.

"Wait Yumi!" Jeremie called irritably, "That's a bad thing remember? We don't know what he's up to!"

Yumi continued on her way, "Right, well, lemme know if anything comes up. Oh, and Aelita, William says he's gonna have a meeting of those who are interested in techno club tomorrow after school, see you there!"

"I didn't know Yumi was interested in techno," Aelita commented, astonished.

"No, I think she's more interested in William," Jeremie figured.

It took a while for Aelita to get it, "Oh…oh right. That's too bad. You'll be there right?"

"Of course not, I have to help Amelie remember?" He reminded.

"But can't you do that some other time? Odd will be there, and I'm sure that if we asked, Ulrich would go as well," Aelita pleaded.

Jeremie rolled his eyes, "Not if Yumi's there, he won't go within ten feet of her. Besides, there will be other meetings right?"

"Not if not enough people show their interest in the club there won't be." Aelita sighed, "But I guess I won't push it. I'll see you later Jeremie," she walked off.

"Bye."

--------------- --------------- -------------------- ------------------ ---------------- ------------ ------  
_Saturday_

The club meeting went horribly. Ulrich actually did end up coming: to spy on Yumi. Making William and herself thoroughly miserable in the process. Especially since Ulrich came, Sissy decided to come as well, making everyone else present miserable as well. Odd didn't even show up. Poor Aelita ended up leaving halfway through. When she went to talk to Jeremie about it, all he could speak about was the experience of teaching his new blonde friend about the wonders of the world of computers. It drove Aelita insane! What was happening to them all? This isn't the life she entered when she came through to the real world…or was it?

_No no no,_ she thought, _I can't start thinking like that, or else everything really has fallen apart. We're all just a little upset and out of it lately. That's all. At least Xana hasn't been bugging me lately…_

Aelita sat down on a bench after the club meeting, still wrapped up in her thoughts. Usually this was around the time one of her friends would show up and ask her what's wrong. But no one was going to show up now, not anymore. She rested her head in her hands, shivering slightly from a cold breeze.

Unbeknownst to her, Sissy was walking down the path. She had been daydreaming, of course, about Ulrich and sneering at poor unfortunate Yumi in her head – the only things Sissy ever thinks about - when she spotted the lonely pink-haired girl. Smirking, she made her way over to her.

"Why hello Aelita," she greeted, but right then Aelita abruptly stood up, head was tilted down so that her bangs covered her eyes. She turned her back to the principal's daughter and quickly rushed away without so much as a glance or retort.

"Hey! I was talking to you!" Sissy demanded, "Jeez, what's up with her…"

She shrugged it off and headed back to school, not noticing how the girl kept on walking, and walking, and walking. Right off of campus, Aelita walked. She followed the sidewalk to a street that she had never been on before. Eventually, she came to a bridge that led up to an old abandoned factory…

----------------------- ----------------- ---------------------- --------------------------- ----------------

It was dark out by the time she came back to school, she had been gone the entire afternoon, at least five or so hours. As she treaded the campus, she found her friends, all of them, in a group by the vending machines. As she approached them, she heard their concerned voices talking about her.

"I'm sure she's alright Jeremie, maybe she's just hanging around here someplace we haven't checked yet?" offered Odd hopefully.

"Odd, we've checked everywhere! I'm telling you she's disappeared!" Jeremie practically screamed at him. He covered his face with his hands and began to pace frantically, "Oh god, I should've known something like this was going to happen. What if it's Xana? What if she got captured and was given to the scipizoa!"

"Relax Jeremie," Ulrich comforted, "You already checked remember? The scanner said that there weren't any activated towers."

"So what?" Jeremie snapped, "It would make sense wouldn't it? Why Xana's been so quiet lately. Dammit, what am I doing? She could be hurt, dead, gone, alone, and- I don't know. Anything could have happened!"

"Uh, Jeremie, don't you think you're overreacting? She's only been gone for an afternoon," Yumi pointed out.

"So what, you want me to wait a day? A _week_? A _month_? A _year_? Anything could happen to her at anytime! The longer we wait wondering whether it's serious or not gives the enemy even more time to do…whatever it is he's doing!"

Yumi sighed while Odd twirled his finger by his ear, hinting that Jeremie's gone crazy.

"Look, Jeremie, why don't we wait until morning. If she doesn't show up by then, we can go to Lyoko and check it out alright?" Ulrich suggested calmly.

"Yeah! Don't have a hissy-fit about it, Jer," Odd added.

Jeremie suddenly spun around and pointed a finger and accusing at Ulrich, "What?_ Now_ you decide to care? What about earlier huh? I _warned_ you guys that something must have been up and you both completely blew me off!"

"Don't sweat it Einstein, Ulrich was too busy having a _Sissy_-fit to worry about Xana," Odd grinned.

"Shut up Odd!" both Yumi and Ulrich said in unison.

"Why are you getting onto _me_?" defended Ulrich, "If you ask me, _Yumi's_ been the one to blow you off. After all, she's constantly hanging out with William _all_ the time. Why aren't you getting on _her_ case instead?"

"I'm talking about _both _of you!" growled Jeremie.

"What's wrong with hanging out with William, huh?" Yumi shot back, "You're the one who's been hanging out with Sissy. And believe me, _anybody_ is better than Sissy."

Ulrich snorted, "Except you of course. And I have _not_ been hanging out with Sissy."

"Oh really, than why is it that-"

"Stop it! Both of you just stop it!" Jeremie intervened, "you see? This is what I've been talking abo-

"-everytime I see you at lunch-

"Whatever Yumi, just drop it!"

-you've been with Sissy huh!"

"I said drop it!"

"For god's sake, both of you-

At this moment, Aelita finally decided to make her appearance known in order to keep chaos from ensuing. She cleared her throat loudly, standing maturely with her arms folded across her chest.

"AELITA!" they all exclaimed.

She almost smiled, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

Jeremie shook his head, dumbfounded, while Yumi and Ulrich were content with glaring at each other. Odd nudged Jeremie in the ribs, "See? I told you she was alright."

"Shut up," Jeremie growled, blushing from embarrassment. He rushed over to Aelita.

"Aelita! Where've you been? You've been gone for hours!"

"Well, I was," she stared calmy, but then her eyes suddenly glazed, "I-I was…"

"Aelita?" Jeremie asked, concern deeply embedded in his voice, "what's wrong?"

She quickly regained her composure. "Why do you _want _to know? Why do you even _care_, Jeremie?" she snapped suddenly.

Jeremie was taken aback by her sudden mood change, "Of course I care! We all do, we've been worried sick about you!"

Aelita sneered angrily, "I find that hard to believe, especially since you were with that other girl all day. And now you want to know what _I've_ been doing? Well I'll let you know that it's none of your business! I'm going to bed, _goodnight_!" she stomped past him and ran to her dorm.

Jeremie stood frozen to the spot, speechless.

"Whoa," said Yumi, just as surprised as he was, "what the heck was that all about?"

"I think somebody's jealous," commented Odd, "Hey! It's Ulrich and Yumi all over again!"

"Shut up Odd." Ulrich muttered. "Jeremie? Are you alright?"

"I'm going to sleep, see you in the morning," the genius stated melancholy, walking away.

"I better go home too," said Yumi, "Goodnight you all."

The boys muttered their goodbyes and headed back to their dorm as well.

"Odd," started Ulrich suddenly, "Try to learn to keep your comments to yourself ok?"

"What? It wasn't _my _fault Aelita blew Jeremie off." Odd exclaimed

"Yeah, but you weren't exactly helping Jeremie's feelings either," Ulrich replied sourly.

"So? Don't you find it kinda funny? One minute Einstein's on to you and Yumi for_ your_ relationship problems and then Aelita shows up and does the exact same thing to _him _what you and Yumi've been doing for like, ever!" Odd said.

Ulrich glared at him, "No, Odd, I don't find that funny at all."

"Well why not?" Odd asked ignorantly.

"Because relationships are complicated," Ulrich explained as they approached the room they shared, "Not that you'd know anything about them."

"Ouch," Odd said, hurt, "All I'm saying is that you guys need to lighten up a little,"

Ulrich flopped down on his bed without changing into his night clothes.

"And all I'm saying is that you need to _grow up._ Goodnight." He turned so that he was on his side facing the wall.

Odd turned off the lights and sat down quietly on his own bed. Almost immediately Kiwi jumped up onto his lap. Odd stroked him a few times before going into a disgruntled sleep.

----------------- ------------------------- ---------------------- -------------------- --------------- -----

Aelita sat on her bed, lights off, eyes shut tightly and hands covering her ears. She sniffed, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. _I'm sorry Jeremie, I didn't mean to do it. What will I do if he catches on? It's not like I _want_ to help Xana, really. But I can't help it. I'm so sorry Jeremie, For betraying you…

* * *

_

_**REVIEW**_


	9. Trying to Mend

You know what's funny? is that i visit practically everyday and i never do a damn thing to my fics! You know what's even funnier? is that i've had chapter nine done this entire time and i forgot to upload it! anways, this is a very, VERY, badly written chapter, but i dont feel like revising it right now, although i do promise MUCH better chapters in the future. So please dont give up on me yet!

oh yeah, we got rid of cable at my house so i no longer get CL. also i havent seen the very last few episodes of the season either : ( and probably wont for a very long time. Anyone care to fill me in?

Reviews:  
**Faunamon** - glad you liked the last chapter. is she a trap? or is she not?  
**KatfichX -** fate is good is it not. though lately this season ive noticed that though i have like a thousand stories on story alert, non of them ever update!  
**American-Kitty** and this chap im sure will have many more errors. sorry for not updating soon. i had a space out.  
**kikofreako- **Xana has many new tricks up his sleeves. he's such a tricky villan.  
**RedistheRose -** sorry didnt update sooner  
**PrincessKitty-Chan- **You are the best reviewer i have ever known. ten kudos for you! oh, and dont expect this chapter to be great, but ill do my best from now on!  
**Blue Eyes Shining Dragon - **yay! i got good score yay! anyways, soon comes horror  
**DragonTribeLeader925** - did i check out your story? i forgot. if i didnt then i will. lemme know.  
**Slinking Zero - **Thank you for your honest review. you have great forsight and are absolutely right. i will have more action later, however i cant promise the wrapping out part. you see, i enjoy dragging things out, whether it's tactful or not.  
**parslie -** sorry for not updating soon. hope you were able to wait (not that you had a choice.)  
**Code-Lyoko12** - thnks. im glad you enjoyed the first chapter.  
**Brent - **where?  
**D.D.Z.** awfully late review, although my fic is even later. is the plot really that thick?

if anyone has a story of theirs they want reviewed, ill R&R for you if i havent already. just lemme know which one. tis my apology for procrasinating.

* * *

Rain beat fiercely on the walls of Kadic Jr. High. Thunder echoed throughout the night's air. A gust of wind blew open a bedroom window violently. The blonde haired boy sighed and got up to shut it. 

"Man," Jeremy commented, "can you believe this weather we're having?"

"I know," agreed Amelie, "We haven't had any storms this bad in a long time. It's kinda scary. Do you think it's global warming?"

Jeremie laughed out loud, "Oh please, global warming is just a figment of scientist's imagination. It only really exists in the media."

Amelie looked at him curiously, "Really? Why do you say that?" Suddenly her eyes got real wide and she poke in an excited whisper, "_I_ heard that it's gonna cause the end of the world! Like, the oceans will rise and _flood_ all the cities and tornadoes will _rip_ through huge farming plantations so nobody will have _anything_ to eat! And then, places like Siberia will become gigantic deserts and the Sahara will become an _iceland!_ And then the rest of the earth will be _split_ up by earth quakes and lava will _spew_ out of the earth and destroy all of mankind!"

While the blonde girl paused to catch her breath, Jeremie broke out into a laughing fit, "_Right_ and maybe _then_ Sissy will get a brain!"

"Not likely!" Amelie gasped between chuckles.

A quiet knock at the door broke through their amusement.

"W-who is it" Jeremie wheezed, wiping tears from his eyes. The door opened slowly and a pink head bobbed through it's opening.

"A-Aelita!" Jeremie exclaimed, thoroughly shocked. Aelita gazed into the room.

"Is this a bad time?" she asked.

Jeremie blushed, "N-no! not at all, what do you need?"

"I'll, um, I'll come back later ok?" She was hastily about to close the door when a warning hiss behind her stopped her. She glanced at the blonde-and-purpled-haired boy who was glaring at her. _Don't you dare!_ his look told her.

Aelita abruptly threw open the door again. "A-actually, Jeremie, can I talk to you out here please?"

Jeremie looked uncertain for a second. Poor Amelie was looking back and forth between the two in confusion.

Aelita meet the girl's eyes, "It'll only take a second," she smiled.

Jeremie got up and followed her out the door. "Uh, what is it, Aelita?" he asked, pushing his glasses back up on his nose.

Aelita averted her gaze, this was going to be harder than she thought, "I, um, about last night, Jeremie. I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you. It wasn't very nice of me."

"What happened? What did I do to make you so angry?" asked Jeremie.

"It wasn't you. I was just really tired and all. I know that's no excuse, but-" Jeremie interrupted her by setting a hand gently on her shoulder.

"It's ok Aelita. We all have our bad moments, after everything we've been through, you of all people deserve one of those." Jeremie smiled kindly at her, making Aetita's cheeks turn a faint shade of pink.

"Well, um, that's all I guess I'll see you later." She said awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah, later," Jeremie waved, and reentered his room.

Aelita walked back down the hallway. No sooner did she reach the end of it did Odd pop out and wrap a friendly arm around her shoulder.

"You see?" he boasted, "What'd I tell ya? That wasn't so hard now was it?"

"Well…" Aelita started doubtfully.

"And to think!" he continued on, "All you had to do was go down there and say:" – and here Odd swooned in a high-pitched female voice- "'I'm _so sorry_ _Jeremie, _please, oh _please_ forgive me!' And viola! Just like that everything's fine and dandy again."

By this time Aelita's face was very pink, bearing on a light red. "I…didn't _really_ sound like that did I?" she asked uncomfortably.

Odd winked, "Next time I'll record it for ya."

Aelita glared at him as they turned another corner.

"Anyways, I'm glad you guys are normal. Well, as normal as an Einstein with an AI can be. Just remember that whenever in doubt in a lover's conflict, whatever you do, _don't_ do what Ulrich and Yumi would do. That way you can't go wrong! Did I ever mention that those two are impossible? I mean seriously, they can't even stay a good solid two weeks together!" Odd threw his hands up the air, exasperated.

Aelita looked down at her feet as they walked. "Yeah, though last time we kinda made things difficult didn't we?"

Odd shrugged.

Aelita turned with a saddened look on her face, "I'm going to sleep, see you in the morning."

"Yeah, see ya. Hopefully you and Jeremie won't have too much fun tomorrow!"

"ODD!"

--------- ---------- -------------------- ------------------ ---------------- -------------------- ----------

"Well, it's getting late, Amelie, you should probably go back to your room soon." Jeremie said, yawning and stretching at the same time.

Amelie yawned too as she closed the laptop that she brought to his room, "Yeah," she said, "my roommate's gonna kill me. She hate's it when I come in late. She says I wake her up from her beauty sleep."

Jeremie chuckled, "Well, anyways, at least we made some real progress tonight."

"Uh-huh, thank's a lot for helping me Jeremie!" Amelie was just about to walk out of the door when she turned around and glanced at the blonde boy. "Um, Jeremie?"

Jeremie looked up at her.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked nervously.

Jeremie raised an eyebrow, "Yes, what is it?"

"Is that pink-haired girl your girlfriend?" she asked innocently.

"What!" Jeremie blushed a deep red and tugged at his collar, "I mean, no, not really." _Not yet anyways…_

Amelie smiled sweetly, "Good!" and leaned over and pecked him on the cheek, "Goodnight Jeremie!"

"Yeah, Goodnight."

------------------------------- ----------------------------- ----------------- -------------------- -----

The storm didn't let up the next morning, not even a little. All of the students in class stared in doom and gloom out the windows as rain and dark blue clouds clouded their view to freedom.

"Man, they really should've cancelled school. The weather's horrible out there!" complained Odd.

Ulrich, sitting a seat behind him, rolled his eyes, "Odd, we _live_ at school. They're not gonna cancel it."

Odd leaned back in his chair, "So what? You're talking to me now?"

Ulrich glared at him, "It slipped."

Odd grinned, "I knew it!" he exclaimed, "you can't resist me ol' buddy ol'pal!"

Ulrich didn't say anything, but kept his cool as sassy Sissy, sitting next to him, leaned over and hugged his arm, "Don't talk during class, Odd. No wonder you always fail. Besides, it's _me,_ who Ulrich finds irresistible!"

"Sissy!" Mrs. Hertz scolded, "Pay attention unless you have a wish to repeat this grade next year!"

Odd snickered, "What's that about failing, Sissy?" But Sissy didn't hear him, she was suddenly glaring at a piece of paper in front of her intently…

A few seats away from them sat Jeremie and Amelie. During work time Jeremie helped the girl with her assignments. Occasionally, a few giggles could be heard from their side of the room.

Aelita sat by herself in the very back. Occasionally she could be caught staring wistfully at the 'couple' ahead of her…

-------------------------- ------------------------ ----------------------- ---------------- ---------------

-------------------------- ------------------------ ----------------------- ---------------- ---------------


	10. Moving On

I know it's been a very long time and I'm sorry. I lost my spark, obviously, since my wonderful cable was taken away and I can no longer watch Code Lyoko. 

To be honest I've almost lost complete interest in the series (lack of interaction does that to one), but I don't won't to let the story die, I had a specific plan for it, you know, so I re-forced my interest to it and I will finish this, even if it kills me! (and it probably will). I will always like Code Lyoko, no matter what!

Anyways, since it's been awhile, the characters are going to be way out of character. It's been so long, I can't remember enough to get their personalities the same as in the show. Plus the writing style may or may not be the same as before, but I figure, there's no way I can make it as simple as before and the goal write now is to _keep writing_, whether or not it's perfect, I can always go back and edit it everything later.

And I'm still going to follow my original plot too, just because things may seem a little different doesn't mean I suddenly decided to half-heartedly write out these events to cut the story short to say im done. There were key events I wanted to happen, which cause me to write the story in the first place, and im not changing them.

Please give me a lot of criticism so I can get back into the same ol' CL mode of writing as before or something.

And don't forget to advertise your stories! It's been awhile so I don't know who has updated their story or written new ones! So please let me know!

Now on to the story… (review responses will resume nxt chpt)

* * *

_In only a matter of days I've gone from being the luckiest guy in the world, with the girl of his dreams and the best of friends at his side and saving the world on a daily basis, to a single, lonely, and friendless bum, _though Ulrich as he stared at the ceiling of his bedroom.

Kiwi hopped up on the bed next to him and curled up into a ball. Ulrich stroked the dog absentmindedly.

_If I could go back to the way things were, would I? _he wondered.

"No," he said to Kiwi, "I wouldn't." _She has to make her mind up about me. I can't keep on waiting for her to decide between me and William. I tell her that, putting all grudges aside, that she has to decide. If it's all just another game of hers to get me jealous again, then she'll say "Yes Ulrich, of course I want to be with you. But, if she really loves William then…_

"Then I guess I'll just have to find another girl then won't I?" He told Kiwi.

Kiwi snorted and jumped off his lamp to settle in his owner's bed.

"Well I don't care what you think anyways, you're just a stupid dog," Ulrich lied down, facing the wall. He thought of Jeremie and the others, and all of their miscellaneous adventures they'd had together. Immediately his loneliness washed over him again.

"Everything will be alright, you'll see," he muttered, eyelids getting heavy. He thought of Sissy. Although she was perhaps the most annoying girl he had ever known, he was still grateful for her company for the last few days.

If things didn't work out with Yumi, maybe he'd survive after all…

* * *

"Jeremie said everything's ok, Odd said everything's ok, Yumi and Ulrich are just having another one of their fights like always and Amelie's just a friend right?" Aelita cried to herself.

"So why do I feel so lonely? Why isn't everyone back together?" she asked in despair. Seeing Amelie and Jeremie almost constantly for the past few days had been ripping her apart, no matter how many times she tried to tell herself it was nothing.

It was weird, Aelita didn't _hate_ the girl or anything, she actually thought she was kinda funny, in that sickeningly naïve kinda way. However, it was only when Jeremie was with her that Aelita realize how much she depended on him. It didn't matter how many times Sissy or some other girl picked on her, or how serious Ulrich and Yumi's fights became, she knew that everything would be alright because she knew that no matter what, Jeremy would be there for her, comforting her and saying that everyone will pull through somehow because we're a team and we have to work together to fight Xana.

But was Jeremie still there for her when he hardly talked to her, hardly spoke to her, hardly acknowledge that she even existed? What was worse was that he wasn't even realizing he was doing it! She couldn't even be angry at him for it! Well, not reasonably anyways, and if Aelita was anything, she was reasonable. She was an AI, after all.

Maybe that was why Jeremie didn't seem to care about her anymore. She wasn't special like she used to be. She wasn't some unknown entity, who needed protection from an evil supercomputer out to take over the world. She was human now. Just like them.

Humans… now that she was one of them, she had felt nothing but pain, anger, frustration, unreasonabality. Nothing made sense anymore. Everything was so unpredictable. So spontaneous. One instant, your friends would be smiling and having a good time. The next angry and pulling each other's hair out. And the next saying sorry and getting together again. Or not.

At least in Lyoko she would know when Xana would attack and to some extent, know who to rely on to help her stop him. Since she came to this world it seemed that the only way to know for sure was through some randomly occasionally painful process, then rounding everyone up, wondering who was going go or who was going to stay behind for one reason or another. Instead of Jeremie giving the brief overview of why Ulrich was sulking, or who was stuck helping the civilians, it was her giving the explanations to them.

Why did she even want to come to this world in the first place? It was cold, the weather had been awful for days. It got dark and scary at nights. In Lyoko the only time she really felt pain was from the lasers of Xana's monsters. In the human world, when she tripped she could feel the stinging from her scraped knees for hours, depending on how bad the scrape was and if she treated it or not.

_Stupid Jeremie, Stupid Yumi and Ulrich,_ Aelita sniffed, _Stupid everyone._

Humans were much more complicated than a world of mathematical equations and digital codes. In the human world there wasn't always an explanation for everything. And for some reason, this thought began to make Aelita very angry.

There was no reason behind everything being ok yet not being ok at all. There was no reason for the same people who promised to always be her friend and stand by her side, to suddenly ignore her and forget she even exists!

And what did she do to deserve all of this pain and loneliness! Nothing! It's their fault! They did it all on their own! They brought her to this world and are abandoning her! They're too involved in their own selfishness to even consider her feelings anymore!

Aelita thrust her head into her pillow, still crying and thinking of all the bad things that were happening. But through her anger and sadness there was still hope, hope that not all hope was lost between them. After all, no one had officially left her yet.

But at the same time of her hope, there was a great fear as well. A fear that she buried deep within herself, too afraid to consciously admit to it. A fear that everyone really fall apart for good. And that she would be all alone in this world of strange and unpredictable humans.

And through her tears, her despair, and her anger, in the corner of her mind, she could swear that she could hear Xana laughing. 'Why do you despair, my little friend? I've always told you humans were bad enough, but you had to go off and live with them didn't you. But don't worry, if all goes well, you'll be back in my world soon enough'

And through in some strange demented way, Aelita felt reassured.

* * *

Jeremie never thought that there'd be a day where he would actually be _relieved_ that there was a Xana attack. He wasn't just relieved, he was very, _very_ relived. Almost to the point of being thankful, but not quite.

Now, at least, he had an excuse to talk to everyone, force them to face each other all over again. Well, Yumi and Ulrich at least. Odd seemed to be ok, and Aelita as well, if not a little depressed. He had a feeling that if Yumi and Ulrich made up again she would be a bit happier. Their break-ups always seemed to upset everyone, except Odd, that is. But then, he was probably more used to it than the rest of them.

Sometimes he wished those two would just grow up. Really, they could barely keep up a stable relationship for two weeks and here he was able have a very (_very_) good relationship with Amelie, _and_ still remain good friends with Aelita right? So why couldn't Ulrich and Yumi do it as well?

Jeremie was practically skipping his way down the hall to his room, his head up in this happy high mood it had been in almost constantly since that night with Amelie. Never mind what Xana's attack was, everyone would finally be together again.

* * *

"Hullo? Oh hey it's you Jeremie. Huh? Really! Alright I'll be there." Yumi turned to William, slipping her cell phone into her pocket. "Hey Will, um, Jeremie needs my help with something, so I gotta go." Standing up, she pecked him on the cheek.

William grinned, "Sure, no prob, tell him I said hi."

"Thanks," she turned, "Oh, and one more thing, could you let my parents know? Just so they won't worry about me if it gets too late."

"Of course" William smiled.

"See ya!"

"Later."

* * *

"Captain Oh Captain, your crew has arrived," Odd announced, as the last of the gang, Yumi, came panting into the room with the supercomputer.

"Hey Jer, what's the problem?" Yumi asked, avoiding eye contact with a certain someone. Before responding, Jeremie looked his friends over. Odd was looking his usual self, if not slightly calmer than normal. Aelita was staring softly at her feet. Yumi had on her fake 'nothing is wrong, so let's kick butt look,' and Ulrich seemed strangely neutral to everything, not angry or anxious or even sulking.

"Well, there's another Xana attack for one thing." He stated.

"Drat, you mean he didn't just suddenly die while we were away?" Odd said sarcastically.

"But I found him rather early, so none of us may have noticed, exactly what his attack is this time."

"So what are you waiting for? Send us into Lyoko so we can keep it that way!" Yumi said eagerly.

"Yes, Of course," Jeremie pushed his glasses up on his nose than folded his arms, "But I wanted to make sure first that everyone was ready."

"We're ready as we'll ever be Jer," Ulrich said calmly.

Jeremie looked at them, mainly Yumi, "We're putting our personal problems behind?"

Yumi sighed impatiently, "Yes Jeremie, come on already!" Ulrich and Odd both nodded.

"Aelita?" Jeremie asked.

She only hmm-ed in response as she walked towards the elevator. Odd bounded after her like a puppy dog.

The remaining three shared a quick confused look before the two, at Odd's urging, entering the elevator as well, Jeremie sitting at the computer.

Odd and Aelita were virtualized first. As Yumi and Ulrich waited they heard Jeremie ask, "You guys ready?"

"Yeah" they responded.

"Then let's do this."

* * *

Pretty please **Review**. 


	11. Another Attack

**Diclaimer:** disclaimer? what's that? 

I think this chapter is better, we had a snow day today so ive spent all morning writing it. it's longer and there's some more action too.

**Sithking Zero** - thanks, that's good to know.  
**American-Kitty-** yay! im not missing anything if theyre just reruns. i had a wonderful thought...NETFLIX: ) but they only have part of the first season. : ( neways, thank you and have a nice day.  
**kikofreako-** thnx, all of that thinking stuff last chapter was mostly for me (so i could getback into their heads) but im glad you like it! is It's Pretty Nice the name of a story i should read?

Ze Chapter...

* * *

Jeremie held his head in his hands, "Ahh! No! how could we have let this happen?"

"Calm down Jeremie, we'll get her back" Ulrich assured, he and Yumi were standing back to back against a small army of krabes circled around them. Aelita had already been caught by the scipizoa.

"Yumi, cover me!" called Ulrich as he tried to perform a special attack. Yumi regarded him out of the corner of her eye, but resumed her own attacking of the monsters.

Ulrich was hit hard on his left side and his back.

"Ulrich! You barely have any life points left! Be careful!" called Jeremie.

"Yumi!" snapped Ulrich, "I thought I told you to cover me!"

"uh, sorry, I didn't hear..." Yumi stated simply as she back-flipped away from oncoming lasers.

Ulrich leaped atop a krabe, driving his sword into its eye. The krabe bucked back and forth viciously, attempting to through off the boy, but exploded instead.

Ulrich land on the ground with grace and faced Yumi, "I thought we were leaving our personal differences behind."

Yumi cast one of her fans, which caught her krabe in the eye as squarely as Ulrich's sword. Using her other fan to block an attack from a different krabe. "I told you Ulrich, I didn't hear you. Speak louder next time!"

Ulrich stared at her, completely disregarding the krabe standing behind him, "Speak louder? I was already speaking loud enough, you were _ignoring_ me on purpose!"

"Ulrich, PAY ATTENTION!" Jeremie cried. Too late, The krabe had already shot and devirtualized their swordsman.

"Good riddance," muttered Yumi, destroying the krabe that destroyed Ulrich. She turned around to face three more of them.

"Don't even think about it," she told the monsters. She deepened her fighting stance, two fans at the ready, "I'm not letting you get past this point. Jeremie, how's Odd doing?"

"That's what I'd like to know" Jeremie muttered.

--

"You know, this ain't exactly easy," Odd informed.

"Just hurry up! There's not much more time until the scipizoa has obtained all of Aelita's memories!" Jeremie urged, stress seeping into his voice.

"Gotcha," said Odd. He carefully eyed his enemies. The scipizoa caught Aelita right before she was entering the tower. Unfortunately they were too far ahead for Odd to do anything about it. Surrounding the evil squid was a pack of literally thirty or so kankrelats.

"Ok," sighed Odd, stepping up onto his hover board, "guess I'll just hafta wing it."

With that he took off over the heads of the midget monsters, aiming his arrows at the jellyfish. Suddenly two tarantulas popped out of nowhere and were firing at him.

"No!" Jeremie cried as Odd's hover-board de-virtualized and the warrior fell to the ground, smack dab in the middle of the army of kankrelats. "Owww" He complained, rubbing his head. He looked up to see the scipizoa directly in front of him.

"Perfect shot," Odd commented, firing a few rounds at its head. As expected the scipizoa dropped Aelita. Jeremie leaned back in his chair, it wasn't too late.

Odd helped Aelita off the ground, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. What the-" she and Odd looked around them. The krankrelats were all facing them, but none of them were firing, or showing any signs of hostility. In fact, they had made a clear path for them to the tower.

The tarantulas, however, were showing no such signs of mercy. "Let's go," said Odd, grabbing Aelita's arm, "I'll cover you."

They ran for the tower through the parted sea of kankrelats, a barrage of lasers hot on their trail.

"C'mon," urged Jeremie, little droplets of sweat forming on his forehead.

Almost…almost…they made it! Aelita entered the tower at the exact moment Odd was devirtualized painfully from behind.

Jeremie was more than relieved, sufficed to say, as Aelita entered the code and the attack stopped.

"I'm bringing you home," he told her, devirtualizing her body. As she felt herself leaving Lyoko, one thought was in her mind.

_Home._

When Aelita stepped out of the scanner, she found Odd waiting for her, grinning.

"That was a close one," he commented.

"Yeah," she half-heartedly agreed.

--

Back at the main room they found Ulrich and Yumi already there, arms crossed, facing away from one another.

"Jeez, what happened this time?" Odd asked.

Jeremie shook his head, "Nothing to be concerned about." He walked into the elevator with the other two and turned around to face the two ex-lovers.

"I expect you two to get over yourselves cleaned up your acts before the next Xana attack. Or else you're off the team." Jeremie announced as the elevator door closed.

"Yes mother," they could hear Ulrich mutter.

As the three walked their way slowly to the sewers, Odd slapped Jeremie on the back, "Nothing to be concerned about, huh Einstein? You know we can't fight Xana without them," he said, "both of them."

"I know that," Jeremie replied, using one finger to push up his glasses, "But right now as they are, they're completely useless. They stop fighting Xana's monsters just to fight themselves, and then get each other devirtualized on purpose for vengeance," he stated matter of factly as they walked upon the sewer entrance.

They rode their various vehicles back to the school grounds, then climbed the ladder upto the surface.

"J-Jeremie," Aelita called out softly, as he was about to leave for the dorms. He turned around. Odd stopped as well, a little distance away from the two.

"What is it, Aelita?" he asked.

"I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to do something…together," she looked down shyly at her feet.

Jeremie smiled gently, "Sorry, but I promised Amelie that I'd spend time with her on her website."

_Of course_, thought Aelita bitterly, "I-I see." She turned around, trying not to let her arriving tears show.

"But Aelita!" Jeremie started, "We're almost done. So, if you want, maybe some other time?" he smiled hopefully.

"Y-yeah," Aelita whispered as Jeremie left for his dorm, "right."

* * *

Ulrich did it. He told Yumi exactly what he wanted from her. A definite yes or no. And now he waited patiently, the butterflies ripping his stomach apart.

Yumi stared at him thoughtfully. And stared, and stared, and stared and stared and stared and stared and stared.

Ulrich swore inside his head, _Dammit when is she going to stop staring at me like that! I can't take it anymore! How hard is it to just say Yes? Or No, but hopefully Yes!_

Finally Yumi cleared her throat to speak. "I need more time to think about it."

Ulrich bit his tongue in order to keep himself from screaming at her. Girls! Why do they always have to torture you like this every single time you want a simple straight answer?

"I understand," he lied and began to walk out of the factory, "I'll be waiting."

-

Yumi watched him leave, turning things over in her mind. She didn't know how long she stood there, thinking, only that it was the cell phone that brought her out of her reverie.

"Hello? Hey. Yeah, I'm done. Thanks. No, you don't need to tell my parents, it's still early. Thanks though. Alright. Yeah, Love'd to. Yeah, See ya. Bye." She hung up.

Her dilemma with Ulrich was still fresh in her mind, although she couldn't help but to feel excited to spend another afternoon with William.

* * *

Jeremie double-clicked on the mouse. "You see? That's how you change the skin on your forums.

Amelie's eyes grew big, "Wow! That's so easy! I'm surprised I didn't figure that out by myself!"

"Yeah, me too, actually…" Jeremie stated hesitantly.

Amelie giggled, "You caught me, Jerie! you know I just wanted another excuse to spend time with you."

Jeremie blushed profoundly as he pushed his glasses back on his nose, "But you should really learn to do these things by yourself," he muttered.

"But what fun would that be Jerie?" Amelie teased, then her face grew more serious, "But I really wanted to thank you Jerie. You're my only friend here and you've helped me a lot and been so kind to me! Even when I make stupid mistakes, you're so patient and you don't scold me or anything."

Without thinking, Jeremie said "Of course Aelita, I'll always be here for you."

"Aelita?"

Jeremie stuttered, realizing his mistake, "I-I mean Amelie!"

Amelie laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Oh Jerie, now you've got your head in the clouds! Welcome to my world!" she giggled and Jeremie fell backwards.

"Thank you so much, "she whispered.

Just then the entire room shook terribly. Jeremie's lamp fell off his desk and shattered. Once the shaking had ceased, the two jumped up and looked around nervously.

"W-What's going on!" Amelie cried out.

"Xana" Jeremie his under his breath, "C'mon!" He grabbed Amelie's hand and rushed out of the room. They made their way past the other kids who had come out of their rooms to see what the commotion was about. Every now and then the structure of the building shook violently, throwing them from one side of the hall to the other as the lights above them flickered and blew.

As they ran through the mass of panicking children, Amelie yelled out, "Where are we going?"

Jeremie called back, "To the boiler room!"

* * *

Odd and Aelita walked peacefully outside. Odd had his hands folded behind his head as he stared up at the setting sun in front of them. Aelita was trudging quietly, focusing on nothing but the ground in front of her.

"You know," Odd started, "I'm sure he doesn't mean it intentionally. Jeremie just sometimes gets…distracted, if you know what I mean, like when he's working on your antivirus."

"I know," said Aelita, "That's the problem, it's an _honest_ mistake."

"What do you mean?" asked Odd curiously.

Aelita shook her head, "I don't want to talk about it."

Odd shrugged and they continued to walk in silence for awhile. Aelita mumbled something that Odd didn't catch.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I asked if you ever got lonely…" she restated.

"Huh?"

"On normal days, Ulrich has Yumi and I have Jeremie, don't you ever feel lonely or left out?" she asked

Odd stopped walking and looked back at her, Aelita continued, "I mean, Ulrich always swore that he'd protect Yumi and be there for her, and I know – knew – that Jeremie would always be there for me, and you always seem to be the odd one out…"

At this point Odd began to laugh out loud. Startled, Aelita looked up at his grinning face.

"What are you talking about?" he laughed, "I'm luckier than both you and Ulrich!"

"Why?" she asked quizzically.

Odd pulled his trademark grin, "Because I have _all_ _of you_ to look after _me!_"

And that was when the ground began to break apart, sending them both flying onto their butts.

"What's going on?" asked Odd, surprised.

Aelita pointed towards the school, "Look!"

Odd look and saw that the building was…swaying, like rubber.

He rubbed his eyes and looked again, "No way!"

"Xana!" Aelita cried. Odd nodded in agreement.

"You go to the factory, I'll make sure everyone gets out ok," Odd indicated towards the mass of middle schoolers running away from the abnormally moving building.

Aelita nodded and headed off to the factory.

--

Only to find that when she arrived, Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie were already there….with Amelie.

"Jeremie what-?"

"No time to explain, get into the scanners!" Jeremie interrupted.

"She's _not_ going into the scanners Jeremie, she can't!" Aelita started frantically.

Jeremie spun around and looked her in the eye, "I _know_ that Aelita, her memory will be erased once we've deactivated the tower," his eyes grew a sudden distant, forlorn look to them, "Just like always."

"Where's Odd?" Yumi asked, already standing next to the elevator.

"He's taking care of the kids at school," Aelita informed.

"Then let's go" said Ulrich. The three entered the elevator.

Amelie had watched everything, "W-What's going on Jeremie? What's happening? Where are they going?"

Jeremie smiled at her and took her hand, "It's ok, everything will be over with soon."

Amelie seemed comforted by his words, "And everyone at the school?"

"They'll all be alright too, don't worry." Jeremie led her gently to the corner of the room, "I want you sit right here until everything is alright again, ok?"

Amelie nodded, tears in her eyes. Jeremie couldn't help but smile again, she was so innocent.

Resuming his task at the computer, Jeremie called to the others, "Is everyone ready?"

"We've been ready, Einstein," Ulrich muttered.

"Virtualization!"

When the three simultaneously arrived in mountain area, they found no trace of any of Xana's monsters.

"Xana must be concentrating all of his power on the attack in the real world," Aelita hypothesized. Jeremie and the others murmured their agreements.

"Where's the tower Jeremie?" Yumi asked.

"There's two of them, one North, one South. The South Tower is the closest to your current position." He announced.

"Two? That figures," Ulrich swore, "let's get the South one first."

Their vehicles virtualized in front of them and they set off at top speed.

But in the lab the factory shook violently. In one corner a piece of metal came crashing down, bringing down a few electrical cables with it. Amelie let out a yelp.

Jeremie spun around, "Amelie, are you alright!" he shouted.

"I-I'm fine, it just scared me, that's all," she said weakly.

"Come over here by me," He told her. She stood beside him and gripped his shoulder gently. She was shaking.

"It'll be ok," he whispered again, and refocused his attention on his friends in the virtual world.

Aelita and the others were gaining ground quickly on the tower. A flock of hornets came speeding up behind them.

"Yumi, behind you!" called Ulrich. Yumi swerved her vehicle around, just missing the laser fired at her head.

"You guys go on, I'll take care of these losers!" She yelled.

Ulrich gave her an acknowledging nod and sped up on his motorcycle, Aelita gripping him tightly around waist from behind.

"Ulrich, the tower should be just around that bend," Jeremie informed.

"Gotcha. Get ready" he told Aelita as they approached the bend quickly. Ulrich turned sharply on his vehicle and…there it was, the tower. No monsters were anywhere. For a second the two virtual beings sat perfectly still, waiting to make sure it was safe. Nothing happened.

"Get going" he whispered. Aelita nodded and ran into the tower.

"South Tower accounted for." He told Jeremie.

Jeremie lifted his hand to cover Amelie's still shaking one on his shoulder.

"It's almost over," he told her.

* * *

Odd rushed through the school building. He stopped a short light brown-haired fifth grader who was trying to leave the building, "Are you the last one?" he asked.

The girl nodded just as another tremor went through the building. The ceiling above them began to cave in. Odd grabbed the girl and the down out of the way just in time.

The younger girl was trembling so hard that she could barely stand.

"Are you ok?" he asked her.

She shook her head, "I, I think a bunch of kids went into the gym earlier, th-they said it would be safer there."

"What! Really!" He got up to run towards the gym, but the younger girl grabbed his arm before he could leave.

She was looking at him sternly now, "My best friend is there, please, you have to make sure she's ok! She's my height and she's blonde and she-she" the girl's voice started cracking in her panic for her friend's safety.

Odd told her that he would make sure she would be safe and ordered her to get out of the building as fast as possible, and rushed off towards the gymnasium.

Sure enough there was a group of younger fifth-graders huddled in the middle of the building.

"Are you sure we'll be safe here, Sandra?" Tamiya asked her fellow student. The girl nodded her head nervously.

Milly looked over and was the first to spot him, "Odd!" she cried out.

"What are you guys doing! This place is going to collapse any second now! You have to get out of here!"

"I told you," Tamiya told the girl Sandra, before leading other students toward the exits.

Another tremor ran through the ground, and just like Odd said, the metal beams of the ceiling began to fall.

"Hurry!"

The children ran past him. He looked them over, but didn't see the blonde girl the other fifth-grader was talking about. He looked back into the room and saw her; she had tripped on her way out.

"C'mon!" he yelled. The blonde tried to stand up, but fell right back down again as yet another tremor ran through the gymnasium, loosening the giant metal beams above her head.

"LOOK OUT!' he shouted and tried to rush forward and if it weren't for the purple electric waves that washed painfully over his body, immobilizing him, he might have been able to do something other than watch as the gymnasium ceiling collapsed onto the younger girl's body.

* * *

"Alright Jeremie, she's there" Yumi called out as Aelita entered the North Tower.

Jeremie nodded, "Good, you guys ready then? Return to the past, Now!"

* * *

**REVIEW!**


	12. RIP

**Disclaimer:** Disclaimed

bet you all thought i was dead huh? after all, it's been over six months since ive updated sorry.

anyways, feel free to re-read things to refresh your memory, after all ive gone back and did some minor editing to each chapter, and major editing to chapter seven, so things might be a little different than before.

OOOOOOh season 3 yes i have watched some of it (though i still havent seen the last few episodes of season 2 yet) but unfortunately my fic is still frozen in time in season two and will not be updated to match season three. so everything you know about season 3 and the latter part of season 2 does not exist in my fanfic.

this chapter will focus some on Odd since everyone else has already had their turn in the spotlight.

that said and done: Read, My friends, Read!

* * *

_Rest In Peace _

_Julie Vigouroux  
5th grade  
_

It might have been Aelita's fault, for if it wasn't for her, Xana would have been shut down a long time ago. It might have been Odd's fault for not reaching her in time. It might have been Yumi's or Ulrich's fault for not defeating the monsters fast enough for Aelita to get to the towers. It might even have been Jeremy's fault, for underestimating the enemy.

Either way, even if it wasn't required for every student to attend the funeral of Juilie Vigouroux, the Lyoko gang would have gone anyways. After all, it was undoubtedly their fault.

Julie V. a sweet little fifth-grader died of a severe contact to the head. No one knows why or how it happened, just that her body was found beaten and battered in the middle of the gymnasium floor. The police obviously suspected the she was attacked with a blow to the head and questioned her best friend Ninon Costes for possible enemies. Through muffled tears she insisted that although Julie was a shy girl, she generally got along with everyone.

Then the Police begin to look for possible mentally unstable children in the school, or particularly violent ones who may have gotten out of hand. But all the teachers, particularly Mr. Delmas, Jim, the gym teacher, and the nurse insisted that there were only healthy and sound children at their school.

But the detectives knew that she had been attacked, there was know doubt about that. The cameras merely showed the girl's body simply appearing with a flash of light, it was obvious they'd been tampered with. None of the Lyoko members volunteered to tell them that yes, the girl was attacked, and no, the cameras were not wrong.

In fact, the Lyoko warriors were still quite in shock as they stood together by supercomputer the day after the funeral. They all stood farther apart than normal, so that none of them were within reaching distance of the other. Jeremie was at his normal seat at the computer, Aelita against the wall opposite him, staring at his back. Ulrich and Yumi were leaning against the wall, with a good few feet between them and Odd was sitting in a corner, head buried in folded arms.

"Jeremy," Yumi spoke, the first to break the silence, "What are we going to do now?"

The blonde boy swirled in his chair to face her and sighed, "We can't do anything Yumi, aside from what we normally do. Except now it is more important than ever."

"Yeah, but" The oriental started, tears forming in the corner of her eyes, "what if- What if someone else gets hurt. Or dies?"

Jeremie looked down at his hands, "There's nothing we can do about that. This is war. All we can do is be thankful that casualties have been as minimum as they have been. I'm working on the anti-virus as fast as I can, Trust me, Xana won't be around for much longer."

Even with this re-assurance, the black-haired girl buried her face into her hands, crying quietly, "That poor girl."

Somehow, Aelita couldn't miss the hint that as long as she was around, the more the innocent bystanders would be in danger.

Ulrich made his way over to his one time good friend and rested a hand on her shoulder, "Yumi," he said softly, "it's times like these we have to stick together." Suddenly Yumi spun around and slapped him. Hard.

"Fuck you," she spat, "this is _not_ the time for that _Ulrich_!" she marched off towards the elevator.

"Wait, Yumi" called out Jeremie, "he's right." Yumi turned around and glared at him.

"This is the time that it's most important that we _all_ stick together. It is essential that we all be there for each other. If…if we break apart now, then Xana has most definitely defeated us." Jeremie stared hard into Yumi's eyes, "then that means even more people will die." Yumi's angry look softened, she knew Jeremy was right, but Ulrich was still unforgivable.

Surprisingly it was Aelita who snapped next. "Fuck you Jeremy," she spat and stepped into the elevator. Yumi, Ulrich, and Jeremy were startled into shock. Silently Odd got up and followed her without a word.

"A-Aelita…" Jeremy whispered as the elevator door closed. A moment later Yumi herself went into the elevator, mumbling a quiet 'bye' to Jeremy before leaving the two boys alone in the laboratory.

"This…is not good," Jeremy commented to Ulrich.

The brunette agreed, "Tell me about it."

William found Yumi leaving campus later that night. He ran up to her and gave her a gentle hug. "Yumi, I know that Julie's death has hurt you a lot. Were you two very close?" He asked arms still wrapped around her body. Yumi buried her head into his shoulder and tried not to cry again.

"No, I hardly knew her at all, but that doesn't change a thing," she told him, and resisted the urge to sniff. After all, she wasn't supposed to be that kind of girl.

William raised his hand to rest on her head, "No, you're right. I wish that there was something I could do to lesson you're pain, I would do anything for you, you know," he offered heroically.

Yumi could help but stand back and roll her eyes playfully, " Thanks, but I'll be fine. There's no wound that time won't heal, as they say," _Execpt death,_ she added bitterly inside her head.

"Yeah? Well, have a good night anyways," he said.

"Thanks, you too." She waved goodnight and went back home.

Aelita was lying on her bed, arm over her eyes…conversing with Xana.

_How could you, she was only a child. _She scorned harshly.

Xana snorted inside her head, 'Now you know how _I_ feel each time you humans demolish one of my precious underlings'

_Oh please, _If she could have seen him, Aelita would have been glaring icicles, _none of your stupid monsters are worth the life of a human!_

Xana chuckled, 'We'll see about that, my dear Aelita. Just wait and watch.'

Odd returned to his room and leaned against the door, head downcasted and dwelling on the day of the funeral. He had given his sincere apologies to Julies' parents, like every other kid did who was there. Unlike every other kid, he had a real reason to apologize; of course, he didn't mention that to the girl's parents or siblings. Still, he must have looked especially down and dejected, because her mother actually smiled at him and said that she was in God's hands now.

Afterward he sought out Ninon Costes, the girl who begged him to save her best friend. He apologized to her too, not that it meant a thing to the poor sobbing child. Even if she had remembered the true events of that day, his apologies would still have not meant a thing to her. In fact, she would have probably downright hated him. Instead that sat there and talked a little while about the deceased.

"My room is so lonely now. I keep waking up and thinking that Julie is still snoring across the room. I miss her so much, she was my best friend in the whole wide world." She cried bitterly, "I wish I could have at least been there for her."

_No you don't_, thought Odd, _You wouldn't have wanted to been there at all. It was too horrible. _Odd remembered it all so clearly, even days afterward. The little girl staring wide-eyed up at a heavy metal beam just before it smashed into her skull. After the impact the purple electric waves ceased, allowing Odd the freedom of movement once again. Trembling, he had crawled over to the poor girl and removed the offending beam. It was then that time had temporarily frozen before the trip to the past; giving him what felt like an eternity to stare at the deep bloody gash on her concaved forehead with no illusions that she was no longer alive.

None of the other Lyoko warriors had known that Odd was with the girl when she had passed away. They just assumed that he had been off rescuing a different group of kids when the gymnasium collapsed. Odd was afraid to tell them the truth. Afraid that once he did they would say, 'So it really was you're fault after all'.

With the exception of Aelita of course. Aelita knew everything. Because Xana knew everything.

Slowly he was brought back from his morbid thoughts by Kiwi's barking, who was concerned for his master. Odd smiled a little as he reached down to pet him. This was why he loved dogs so much. Such undying love for their owners, complete without conscious and full understanding of them. Such perfect little creatures, who would treat you like God simply for shelter, food, and a little bit of attention. Odd's hands tensed on the faithful pup's back, upsetting Kiwi.

Bark!

Concern.

Bark!

Forgivness.

Bark!

Love.

He didn't know why but all of a sudden these thoughts made him very sick. He could have sworn there was a voice in his head spatting at the poor mutt, 'Such a pathetic, disgusting creature!' This feeling of revile filled his every being and before he knew it he was yelling at the poor dog, grip tightening on its neck.

"Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!" he screamed. Kiwi yelped, biting his master's hand to let go, then running for cover under the bed.

Odd knelt down in the middle of the room, sobbing,

* * *

Pwese **Review**


	13. Doggone Days

**Disclaimer: **I don't not deny that I haven't said that I don't not own whatever it is im not supposed to not own.

another chapter yay! the next one should be out in another week or so, more surprises you would never predict!

anyways this chapter focuses a lot on Ulrich this time. i think it started out pretty badly written but got better towards the end, but that's how i see it (no doubt it's in need of serious editing) if you see differently let me know.

thank you for everyone who reviewed last chapter, i appreciated them greatly, although i think there's still one more person who's stories i need to look at and praise ;

anyways, things shoudl finally be speeding up, so try to read and enjoy!

* * *

Odd woke up the next morning feeling strangely refreshed. He looked around the room, Ulrich was already awake and gone. He looked at the time, it was almost noon. Considering he wasn't getting his head ripped off for sleeping in, Odd assumed it was finally Sunday.

_Man what happened last night?_ Odd wondered, getting up and getting ready for what was left of the day. _It was like I could actually _feel _Xana's emotions seeping into me._ Odd shivered, _No way, that's too weird, I don't have the same connection with Xana that Aelita has. I cant _talk _to him the way she says she does at least. Oh well, better not think about it too much, after all, I haven't even had breakfast _or _lunch yet!_

He was smiling as he left his room and headed towards the cafeteria. On his way he ran into Aelita in the hall.

"Oh hey Aelita, what's up?" he waved cheerily, "you're looking gloomy today. What, did you talk with the Big Guy again or something?"

The pink-haired girl nodded and whispered to Odd, "he seems particularly relieved today. It bothers me because I actually don't know what he's been up to lately."

Odd patted her on the back, "Don't worry about it Princess, he's probably still just glorifying over his victory about…well" he took a quick glance around the hall, "you-know-what." The girl numbly shook her head. She didn't want to be reminded of such things so soon.

Odd took note of this and was about to invite her to eat lunch with him in the cafeteria when Amelie suddenly came running up to them.

"Hey Aelita," she greeted with what seemed like to Aelita to be a sickly-sweet smile, "Have you seen Jeremie around? He's supposed to be helping me with some stuff today."

Instead of responding, the pink-haired girl simply 'hmphed' and walked past her. Amelie cast a questioning look at Odd, who just shrugged and skipped off happily towards the lunchroom, leaving the blonde girl alone and confused.

"Jeez," she sighed hopelessly, "Jeremie's friends are really weird."

- ----- ----------- ----------- ------------ ---------------- -------------- ------------ ----------- -------

In the factory Jeremie typed away furiously on the supercomputer. Thank God it was Sunday. Now he had an entire twenty-four hours to focus on ending this mess for good. As he had always feared, Xana was beginning to become too much for them, a tiny group of middle-school boarding students, to handle. On top of battling Xana day in and day out and dealing with the recent emotional trauma of Ninon Vigouroux, their relationships with each other were dropping as bad as their grades were. Soon they would barely be able to take care of themselves, nevertheless save the rest of the world.

While looking through some new information Jeremie found another code that could contribute to solving Aelita's anti-virus dilemma. He ran a quick test on it for bugs before applying it to the rest of his studies. From there his brain immediately zoned in on the task at hand. He eventually became so involved in his work for the next few hours, that he didn't even notice Ulrich standing right behind him until the other boy had placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa- what? Oh, it's you Ulrich. What do you need?" He asked, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"It's dinnertime," Ulrich told him, grinning, "I thought it'd let you know since I'm willing to bet you haven't eaten anything all day am I right?"

"Look, Thanks for your concern Ulrich, but I'm really busy right now. I'm so close to finding Aelita's anti-virus." Jeremie stated.

Ulrich rolled his eyes, "That's what you always say Einstein. Look, I know it's important for us get the anti-virus to defeat Xana and all, but do we have to kill ourselves to do it? Besides, you really need to talk to Aelita don't you? You cant let this go on forever, I mean, you don't even know what she's angry about this time do you?"

Jeremie grunted, "Maybe so but I'm sure talking to me is the last thing on Aelita's to-do list right now."

"But it's first on yours. Besides, didn't you say we need to stick together as a team?"

Jeremie sighed, "Yeah, you're right Ulrich. I'll need to face her someday anyways, might as well get it over with."

Ulrich smiled, "C'mon lets go then" They stepped into the elevator. Ulrich shuffled his feat for a moment, "Actually Einstein, there was something else I've been wanting to ask you."

Jeremie raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Well, It's just that lately, um, well, I don't know. You know that sixthgrader and how it's like our fault and everything since we didn't stop Xana and all?" Ulrich began.

"It can't be helped Ulrich, it's not entirely our fault," Jeremie started.

Ulrich shoved his hands into his pockets, "No it's not that. It's just that I feel kinda bad cuz well, I haven't been feeling _bad_ about it. Or as much as I think I should be. About the kid. I mean, I don't think I'm feeling as bad as I should be about her dying and all. This isn't making any sense. Acutally what I mean to say that all I keep thinking about is Yumi and our relationship and William and all that. Is that bad? I mean, is it bad to be thinking about Yumi instead of like, well you know."

By this point they were walking in the sewers, nearing in on the entrance to the forest on school grounds. Jeremie pushed up his glasses before responding. "Sure in a sense it's rather _selfish_ of you Ulrich, to focus on the one you love rather than someone else's lost loved one, but it's only natural; human. But as a great man once said, 'Think about what _is_ and not about what once _was_'…or something like that."

Ulrich scrambled up the ladder, then reached down to assist his friend in the same. "Thanks Jer, that helps a lot. Now what do you say to _presently_ getting some food?" he offered.

Jeremie laughed, "I think that's an excellent idea. In any case, I'm famished."

----------- --------------------- --------------------------------------------------- ------------- -------

Unfortunately by the time they got to the cafeteria, Aelita had already left.

"It's all right Jeremie, I'm sure you'll get another chance." Ulrich comforted. After they got their trays they spotted Odd sitting next to Yumi and William at one of the tables. Ulrich was delighted at seeing Yumi on a Sunday, _especially_ at dinnertime, but grimaced at seeing her companion. Nevertheless he still made his over to them.

"And _then_ the _waiter_ said-" Odd started on some assuredly bad joke before spotting his two friends, "Ulrich! Jeremie! Where've you guys been?"

William cocked his head to the side, "'Ulrich-Jeremie'? I don't get it. What's so funny about that?" he looked up at the approaching figures, "_Oh_, it's you guys."

"Yeah, it's _us_," Ulrich announced, "Mind if we sit here with _our_ friends?"

William stuck his palms out in the air in a sign of mock surrender, "Not at all, go right ahead."

Ulrich immediately unconsciously sat down next to Yumi, ignoring the icy warning glare she was sending him.

"So where've you two been all day?" Odd restated his question.

Jeremie finished his first bite of Spaghetti-and-Muckballs before answering, "Working diligently all day on well, you know, important things."

"Oh yeah?" Yumi asked, obviously knowing which 'important things' he was referring to, "did you make any progress?".

"Well…" Jeremie started, casting a glance in Ulrich's direction, "Actually yes, we made a considerable amount of progress today."

"We?" asked Odd, finishing his second helping of S'ghetti Delight.

"Yes, Ulrich helped me out quite a lot." The genius stated.

"Really?" Yumi was surprised, "That's good to hear, I guess."

"And I have absolutely no idea what you guys our talking about," William said, a little ticked at once again being left out on one of Yumi's 'secrets, "But since I obviously wont be included in the loop here, I think I will excuse myself then," he stood up.

"You do that," Ulrich growled.

"Ulrich!" snapped Yumi.

"No it's ok, I understand," William started, "I mean, I _would _understand if _I _was the jealous little freak here."

"William!" Yumi snapped again, "Would both of you just _stop _it for _once_ please?"

"Sure," Ulrich retorted, "he was just leaving remember?"

William grinned, "You're right, I was. I'll catchya later 'k Yumi?" he bent down and pecked her on the cheek. It took every ounce of Ulrich's self-control _not_ to stab his rival through the heart with his fork.

After William left there was a moment's pause before Jeremie finally cleared his throat, "So…how have you two been lately. You both seem to be a bit…livelier than the last time we were together."

"Well I _was _quite happy," Yumi growled, "Until you two shoed up –no offense Jeremie,"

"None taken," assured Jeremie, "But I would like to remind everyone that we promised to at least _try_ to get along with each other?" He glared at Ulrich, who immediately averted his eyes.

"..Sorry Yumi," he mumbled.

"_I'm _not the one you should be apologizing to, and it you really _were_ sorry, next time you would _think_ a little before you acted _Ulrich,_" she growled and stood up. "Sorry, but I'm going home, it was nice catching dinner with you all tonight. Well, _almost_ all of you." Yumi left the table, and left poor Ulrich wanting to stab _himself_ with a fork through the heart.

"Hey are you going to eat that?" piped up Odd, referring to his friend's untouched Ghetto Spaghettio plate.

Ulrich shoved the tray away from himself, "No thanks, I'm not hungry anymore, you can have it."

"No that's all right, I've already had enough, I was just wondering," Odd said.

Ulrich snorted, "Well that's new. I didn't' think it was possible for you to-"

"I'll have it," Jeremie interrupted. Ulrich and Odd stared. Jeremie had already finished his first helping of Pasta Paste and had just started on Ulrich's Nullifying Noodles.

"What?" Jeremie asked, "I haven't eaten anything all day remember?" Suddenly his eyes widened as he spotted Amelie in the corner of the cafeteria, "Oh no! I forgot all about helping Amelie with her computer today!" Hurriedly he gobbled up the rest of the Ittehgaps in record time before rushing off to his forgotten friend.

Ulrich shook his head tragically, "What have we done? This is all your fault Odd, for being a bad influence on him"

Odd stood up and yawned loudly, "I'm going to bed, you coming?"

Together they left the cafeteria and got ready for sleep. An evening shower cleared up Ulrich's head tremendously. His talk with Jeremie earlier had really been encouraging and he finally felt as if he could love Yumi unconditionally. Unfortunately his jealously had won again that night and he could have kicked himself a hundred times for the way he acted in front of Yumi.

As he lay in bed he mulled over different ways he could control himself in the future inside his head. Ways that would hopefully impress Yumi, but also make William look bad. After a while he began to notice how strangely quite and peaceful it was in his room. Odd wasn't snoring, for one, but there was something else as well…

"Hey Odd," Ulrich called out sleepily, "where's Kiwi?"

No response. Odd must have been asleep already. Curiously Ulrich got out of bed and quietly checked all the drawers they usually stuffed the mutt in during the day, in case Odd had forgotten to let him out before bed. Empty. He quickly glanced at his roommate's bed, in case he had overlooked the pup earlier, before climbing back into his own. _That's weird,_ thought Ulrich as he snuggled under the covers, _Odd's not gonna like this when he wakes up in the morning._

_------- ---------------------- ------------------------- ----------------------- -------------------- ---_

However in the morning for once in hid life Odd was up long before Ulrich. In fact, Ulrich didn't get to even _see_ Odd until their first class that morning.

"Odd, where _were_ you this morning?" Ulrich asked irritably.

Odd flashed one of his grins, "Sorry, but I had to still make sure Jeremie was gonna let me cheat off his test again today, and the best time to get him to is early in the morning!"

"Yeah, _before_ I'm awake. Odd, really, don't you have _any_ consideration? I _do_ happen to value the very little occasional sleep I get sometimes you know." Jeremie snapped grumpily."

Ulrich's head snapped up, "Test? What test?"

"The _science_ test Ulrich." Odd clarified, "Don't tell me you didn't know about it. Even _I_ knew about it and I was sleeping in class all last Saturday."

The brunette slapped a hand to his face, "Aw crap, I forgot all about it. Like I need another 'F' on my report card. My dad's gonna kill me."

"Hey, maybe Jeremie will let you cheat off him this time too." Odd offered helpfully.

"You guys _do_ know that if we get caught again we'll _all _get sent to the principle's office." Jeremie informed.

"At least the benefits outweigh the consequences," Odd chattered gleefully.

-------- ---------- -------------- ---------------- --------------- ---------------- ---------------- ---

During P.E. class, since it was such a beautiful day outside, Jim allowed the students to run around for a "creative exercise" period.

Not quite understanding what Juim really meant by that, and not really caring, Ulrich snuck away into the woods for alittle 'he-time'. In reality he was still feeling rather low from the night before and the failed test that morning, so he wanted some time to sulk alone. Therefore when his annoying stalker popped up behind him, he wasn't in a very welcoming mood.

"Going to see Yumi?" Sissy guessed.

Ulrich rolled his eyes, "I just wanted to get away for awhile, _by myself._"

"By yourself and _Yumi?_" Sissy accused, "Really, I thought we were going steady for once."

Ulrich turned around angrily, "Sissy, you _know_ we aren't dating. Sorry, but I would _never_ seriously date you. I only went along with it to make Yumi jealous, you _know _that. But you keep lying to yourself and make believe that we are _actually_ together and that I _actually _love you."

"But-I- you, that's just because of Yumi. If it wasn't for that stuck-up bitch I _know _that you would…" Sissy began to show tears, and whether they were real or not, they only aggravated Ulrich even more.

"You probably never noticed this Sissy, but I never wanted to go out with you even before I met Yumi. So get it in your thick head, I _don't _love you in _any_ way-shape-or-form. I _never_ have and I _never_ will. Heck I don't even _like _you remotely as a friend. So please do me a favor for once and _fuck off!_" he shouted the last bit at her.

"I _hate_ you Ulrich," Sissy cried into her hands, "I absolutely _hate_ you!"

It felt good to finally be able to say what he'd always wanted to say to his ignorant stalker. But now that he had intentionally made a girl cry in front of him, he was beginning to wonder if it was really necessary to tear her apart like that.

"Wait Sissy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," he said reaching out for her arm. She immediately pulled away, "Shut up! Leave me alone!" she cried, then ran off into the woods.

Instead of chasing after her, Ulrich meekly stuck his hands into his pockets. Let's see, that was another person he could add to the list of people who hated him now. Why did he keep doing this to himself? What was wrong with him that kept making him push people away when he needed them –or they needed him- most? He was so stupid, it must have been hereditary.

Suddenly a high-pitched scream erupted from the trees.

"Crap, Sissy!" Ulrich swore before sprinting off in the direction of the noise. What could have happened? Was it Xana? He burst out into the little clearing with Sissy stood frozen in shock.

"Sissy! What's wrong!?" he demanded. Immediately she shook out of her stupor and ran over to Ulrich, clinging on to his arm.

"Ulrich! It's awful" she squeaked hoarsely.

"Sissy what-?" he started, before his seeking eyes had discovered what she had seen.

"Oh my God."

On one of the forest trees a small animal, about the size of a big rodent, had been tacked to the trunk with a screwdriver through its head. The rest of the body had been literally shredded apart with screws, nails, and other little devices no doubt from the garden tool shed on school grounds. The blood of the animal had not only soaked through the bark of the tree, giving it a warm reddish-brown color, but water the grass below it as well.

It was a sickeningly gruesome sight, but that was not the worst of it. The poor animal had been mutilated to the point of almost being unrecognizable. Almost. Because as Ulrich could feel the bile rise in his throat, he desperately wished that the clean red collar hanging around the animal's neck was not so blatantly obvious.

* * *

Doggone Days. Dog-Gone, get it? hahaha, i amuse myself.

**Review **please!


	14. Kiwi

Hey folks, once again another half year. My story comes and goes with the Lyoko Seasons.

speaking of which, I CANT BELIEVE IT'S SEASON FOUR!! it is so cool, i dont have cable, but my gramps is recording it for me, so i'll see it all...eventually.

Just remember that this fic started in, takes place in, and _continues_ to take place in Season TWO. That is, Aelita doesnt know if she's human, so technically she still has the virus in her. and of course, William is not evil.

that said and done, yes i have re-read my previous stories and found all sorts of loop-holes that ppl have mentioned, and some they havent. so of the loop holes are in fact, not loop holes and will merely become significant in later chapters.

others are just plain amusing and i feel like mentioning them here.

**CHP1**, I had it start out with Aelita in the computer as if she hasn't been virtualized yet  
**Problem: **Aelita has in fact been virtualized by season two and i gave no explanation as to why she was there in the first place.  
**Excuse: **Um...i guess they were randomly checking things out before the Xana attack?

**CHP2**, Ulrich and Yumi duel it out on the roof.  
**Problem:** There is no flat roof on Kadic.  
**My excuse:** I watch too much anime and got confused.

And that's all for now, but i assure you there's much more. In fact, if you would like to notify me of any such plot holes I may have missed or will mention, or would like to ask questions about things that may confuse you and you are worried won't get answered later in the story, feel free to let me know in a review or e-mail.

But basically the moral we can all gather from this is that when starting out a fanftiction, it helps to have the little details figured out as well as the big ones.

Oh yeah, and i dont own code lyoko.

* * *

Ulrich stood in a shocked silence as Sissi cried on his shoulder. _No, it couldn't be, but how?_

Seconds later Jim emerged from the bushes behind them, "What the hell was that scream just now?! Ulrich! Sissy! What are you two doing out here? If I find out you guys were doing anything inappropriate I'll – Holy Crackerjack! What IS that thing?!" Jim took a step back, shocked at the display before him.

"I-It's Odd's dog," Sissi sobbed from her place on Ulrich's shoulder. _Crap_, thought Ulrich,_ She recognized the collar_.

Jim squinted at the bloody mess, "_That _was a _dog?!_" and then, "Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that DellaRobbia was hiding a mutt from me this entire time? Why that little –"

"What's the point Jim," Ulrich said, suddenly feeling angry, "he doesn't have one anymore."

Jim took a second to think, "Uh yeah, I guess I'll let him off the hook then. Look, you kids go back, this isn't something children should see. I'm gonna call the police. And don't say _anything _to _anyone_ until they get here is that clear?"

Both Ulrich and Sissi nodded. "Good, cuz I don't want you kids spreading any nasty rumors until everything's all cleared up ya hear? Now go."

They left and Jim turned back around to the gruesome sight as he pulled out his cell, keeping his nerves in check. For some reason he had a very bad feeling about this. Once they were out of Jim's hearing, Ulrich turned on Sissi. "Why'd you have to tell him it was Kiwi huh?"

"Well, It was wasn't it?"countered Sissi, still shook up.

"You- You don't know that for sure," Ulrich argued weakly. He knew it was true, deep down inside, but he couldn't quite believe it.

"But-"

"Just forget it."

* * *

At the same time as Ulrich and Sissi were making their way back, the super scanner on Jeremie's laptop went off while he was sitting outside in his gym clothes. Immediately he reached for his cell phone to call up the others as he rushed into the woods. 

He punched in Ulrich's number just as he was reaching the sewers. "C'mon Ulrich, pick up" he urged.

"I'm right here," said a voice from behind him. Jeremie jumped and spun around, "Ulrich! What- _Sissi?!_ What are you guys doing here?"

"There's something important you I have to tell everyone," Ulrich side-glared at Sissi, "…in the factory. Where are the others?"

"They're on their way now," said Jeremie, "But that's because of you know what. Sorry, but it will have to wait, first things first, let's go."

Ulrich looked at the still shivering girl beside him, "Sissi, go back and tell your father or someone, I have something I need to do."

Instead of letting go, Sissi clung onto him tighter, "No Ulrich! Don't leave me alone out here!" she cried.

"Sissi this is important! Go back right now!" he yelled, and then took a deep breath, "_Please._"

To his and Jeremie's surprise, Sissi took a step back then ran away.

"Well, that was easier than expected," Jeremie commented. It was then, however, that he noticed his friend's pale complexion. "Ulrich what happened?"

Ulrich shook his head, "I'll tell you all at the factory. I...think I know what the Xana attack was, and it's not good."

Jeremie stared for a second longer then continued down the ladder into the sewers, "Ok then let's go."

* * *

Upon entering the factory, they received a call from Odd and Yumi that they were having trouble escaping from the school, since the police for some reason had shown up and everyone was being herded inside. 

"We're trying to make our way into the boiler room right now," Yumi panted.

"Alright, get here as soon as possible." Jeremie hung up; then relayed the news to Ulrich.

"Any word from Aelita?" Ulrich asked as they boarded the elevator.

"Not yet, I only called her a few minutes ago, so it should probably take her a while to get here."

-- Was what Jeremie said as the elevator door opened to reveal Aelita sitting at the supercomputer.

"Aelita!" both Ulrich and Jeremie exclaimed at the same time.

The pink-haired girl spun around, but not before closing whatever program it was she was looking at beforehand.

"Ulrich…Jeremie," she greeted sheepishly.

"Aelita, how did you get here so fast?" Jeremie asked.

"I-I thought something was wrong and was already making my way to the factory when you called me, Jeremie." She said, not quite meeting his eyes.

"How did you know Xana was attacking?" Ulrich asked curiously.

"It was just a feeling," She explained. Ulrich narrowed his eyes suspiciously; something didn't seem right with her.

"Anyways," started Aelita as she walked towards the elevator, "we had better go and deactivate the tower quickly."

"Wait," said Ulrich, "I'd rather wait for Odd and Yumi to get here first."

Jeremie sat down on his chair and fastening his earpiece, "Sorry Ulrich, we can't risk it, we'd be better off deactivating the tower immediately. Yumi and Odd can catch up when they get here."

Aelita was already waiting in the elevator, "Are you coming Ulrich?"

Letting out a reluctant sigh Ulrich entered the elevator. As the doors closed he turned towards Aelita, "So, what were doing on the supercomputer?" he asked.

Aelita looked surprised, "Excuse me?"

"Before we came in, you were doing something on the computer."He explained.

Aelita turned away, "Oh that. I was just…checking to see where the activated tower was on Lyoko."

Ulrich was shocked; was it his imagination or was Aelita _lying_ to him?

"Then why did you close the program before Jeremie could get to it?"

The pink A.I. was saved from answering as the doors opened to the scanner room, "Come on Ulrich, we don't want to waste any time."

Ulrich shrugged before announcing to Jeremie that they were ready to be virtualized.

"You guys will be entering the Ice Sector; the activated tower should be straight ahead when you get there, "he informed them, "Are you ready? Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Aelita, Virtualization."

Ulrich and Aelita were virtualized on Lyoko, but they were not where they expected to be. "Jeremie? I thought you said we were supposed to be virtualized in the Ice Sector. Why are we in the desert?"

"What?!" exclaimed Jeremie, "but I was sure I'd- well never mind, I'm virtualizing your vehicles."

A couple seconds later their vehicles were virtualized, but with just one problem, "Jeremie? I don't do surfing remember?" Ulrich said.

"Your Overwheel should be right there," Jeremie protested.

Ulrich shook his head, "That's Odd's Overboard," he stated.

Jeremie's glasses slipped down the bridge of his nose, "Huh? You're right, what is _wrong _with me today?"

"It's ok, "said Aelita, she winked at Ulrich, "I can ride."

Ulrich swallowed.

A few seconds later:

"Aahh! Aelita, look out for that- "Ulrich shut his eyes as they just barely missed slamming into a desert boulder. When he realized that his body had yet been sent flying through the air he said, "I can tell you learned how to ride from Odd, You're as crazy as he is!"

Aelita just smiled as they entered the way tower.

Back in the real world the elevator doors opened to reveal Odd and Yumi leaning against the walls, panting. Odd saluted Jeremie, "Sir! Here reporting for duty, Sir!"

"Sorry Jeremie," panted Yumi, "William caught us on our way to the boiler room; we got here as fast as we could."

"But not after you told him to take a hike," laughed Odd, "Where's Ulrich? He has to hear this."

Jeremie was less than amused, "Get to the scanner room immediately, Ulrich and Aelita are already on Lyoko and have just encounter a group of tarantulas." He told them as they scurried to fulfill his commands.

"I hope I get it right this time," Jeremie muttered under his breath.

In the Ice Sector on Lyoko Ulrich took the tarantulas as an excuse to abandon the Overboard. Leaping off in midair, he landed on the first tarantula, sword puncturing through the Xana eye on its nose. From above Aelita let loose her energy ball, taking out another one of the monsters, but not before it had the opportunity to devirtualize the Overboard from under her body.

"Aelita!" called Ulrich as she fell to the ground. She landed with a thump and was temporarily stunned while another tarantula came up from behind her. Ulrich was about to rush toward her aid, but was shot in the back by a different monster. The tarantula fired some more, but by reflex Ulrich had spun around and deflected all the attacks with his sword.

Aelita scrambled to her feet and judged the distance from the tarantula in front of her, to the tower that was a ways behind it. She glanced back at Ulrich who was caught up defending himself from now two tarantulas. _I have to try_, she decided as she fired an energy ball at the offending creature. She missed, but it gave her enough time to attempt to run around it.

Too slow! The creature had her pinned to the ground with one of its lengthy legs.

"Aelita, No!" Ulrich cried as the scyphozoan appeared from seemingly nowhere and approached the elf girl.

"Not so fast!" called Yumi suddenly as she sent her fans flying at the squid. One of them missed, but the other successfully sliced through the enemy's tentacles. The scipizoa immediately retreated.

"Haven't seen you in awhile," Yumi commented towards the squid, "and I hope that's the last we'll ever see of you again."

"That's funny," Odd said, taking in their surroundings, "We were virtualized _after_ you guys, but we're already closer to the tower. Are you two slow, or are you _slow_?"

Sure enough Jeremie was able to virtualize Yumi and Odd right on the dot, or rather, right next to the tower. Ulrich and the others could literally hear Jeremie sigh in relief.

"Neither Odd," Ulrich said, appearing right behind him, "You're just too slow to realize that we've been here the entire time.

Suddenly a laser hit Ulrich in the stomach, devirtualizing him.

"At least my reactions don't suck!" Odd called out, then yelped as another laser suddenly hit him in the head, knocking him off his feet.

Yumi rolled her eyes as she defended Aelita from the remaining three tarantulas with her fans. "Men," she said.

Aelita giggled as Odd rubbed his head, "Speak for yourself," he grumbled.

"Come on Odd, you can at least escort me to the tower." She said.

"Yeah, and hurry it up will you?" said Yumi, deflecting another laser, "I can't hold them off forever you know."

Odd made a bowing motion, "After you Princess."

* * *

Back in the factory Ulrich was standing next to Jeremie, watching the computer, specifically at Aelita's arrow. Jeremie followed his gaze; then covered his microphone so that the others couldn't hear. 

"You think she's still mad at me?" he whispered.

Ulrich shrugged, "I don't know, but something's up. Do you know what she was looking at before we got here?"

Jeremie shook his head, "Somehow she was able to erase her trail completely. Of course, I could just be missing something again, like when I sent you guys to the desert sector instead. Sorry about that by the way."

Ulrich put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry about it, I think you're just stressed is all. But whenever you get a chance, try talking to Aelita again, you don't want her running away like she did last time she was upset."

Jeremie nodded, and then resumed his concentration on the screen, where Aelita was entering the tower.

* * *

During their conversation, however, something else of interest was happening on Lyoko. On their way to the tower, Odd spotted a lone kankrelat that suddenly appeared in front of them. 

"Aelita wait!" he called. She stopped, spotted the creature, then walked right up to it. The kankrelat didn't fire. In fact, it wasn't even looking at her. It was looking at Odd, who was walking towards Aelita.

"Is it Xana? What's he say-"he began to ask, but Aelita quickly put her finger to her lips, reminding Odd that Jeremie could be listening to them.

A yelp and the sound of an explosion caused the two to turn, to find Yumi being devirtualized after destroying another tarantula. The last spider-like creature began to head their way.

"Let's go," she said she sprinted for the tower. It wasn't the tarantula, however, that sent her running. It was that horrible sinking feeling that she knew exactly what that particular kankrelat was, and she wanted to get them away from it as soon as possible.

Odd took one last glance at the strange monster before following after Aelita. But he could feel shivers running up his virtual spine as he felt the creature's gaze never leaving his back.

* * *

"Good job you guys," Jeremie congratulated as they finished deactivating the tower and everyone was in the factory again, "Another Xana attack countered before bedtime." 

"But not before lunchtime," said Odd, clutching his belly, "Boy am I hungry. There's no way I can attend afternoon classes on an empty stomach."

"I wonder if those policemen are still at the school," said Yumi.

Aelita looked up, "Policemen? Why were the police there?"

Yumi shrugged, "I don't know, they showed up right about when Jeremie called, so Odd and I never found out."

"I know why they were there," Ulrich said suddenly, putting his hands in his pockets and looking at the floor. During the excitement of the battle he forgot the events of earlier that day. No, he didn't just forget, he forced himself to not think about it. It was all coming back to him now and he started to feel sick again.

"Ulrich? Is that what you wanted to talk about earlier?" Jeremie inquired.

Ulrich nodded, then proceeded to recount his story, "Earlier this morning during Jim's free creative period I kinda snuck away into the woods by myself to," -he snuck a glance at Yumi- "just to think for a little bit. Sissi followed me and I got mad and told her to bug off."

Jeremie nodded, that would explain why Ulrich and Sissi were already at the sewers.

"She ran away and then I heard her scream."

"That was _Sissi_?!" exclaimed Odd and Jeremie. They had both heard the scream as well, though quite more vaguely since they were further away.

"Come to think of it, I did see Jim run off after that high pitched noise. I thought it was just some cats fighting so I didn't think anything of it," admitted Jeremie.

"You were also absorbed in showing that one Amelie girl how to put porn on the internet," teased Odd.

Jeremie blushed and tried not to look at Aelita, "It was _not_ porn Odd, I was teaching her how to recalculate the digital figures of-"

"Guys, this isn't funny." Ulrich said. A darkness in his tone of voice caused Odd and Jeremie to immediately stop their argument.

"So," said Yumi, "What made Sissi scream?"

Nobody noticed Aelita tremble in the background, as if she knew where this story was headed.

Ulrich looked up, making eye contact with everyone, "There was an animal nailed to a tree. It was cut up to the point beyond recognition. The only thing was - , "he looked directly at Odd, "– there was a red collar hanging around it's next."

Odd froze as Ulrich held his gaze, one that told him this was not a joke. Yumi gasped and Jeremie went wide eyed, "That's…impossible," he said. Aelita's tremors grew stronger, in anger and in sadness.

"Ulrich, you're kidding right?" Odd said weakly.

He shook his head.

"Do you know for sure? Are you positive?" asked Yumi anxiously, "I mean, you only said you saw a red collar, it could have belonged to someone else, did you check the tag?"

He shook his head again, "I didn't have time before Jim arrived and sent us away, but I'm pretty sure…"

"But how?! How can you be so sure it was Kiwi?!" Odd cried out, grabbing his friend's shoulders.

"Probability speaking," Jeremie started feebly, "the likelihood of anyone else on campus, or near the woods owning a dog that size with a red collar, coincidentally at the same time of a Xana attack…"

"Jeremie! You're not agreeing with him are you?!" Odd yelled, turning on the child genius.

Yumi reached out and grabbed his arm, "Odd calm down! Jeremie wasn't agreeing with anything, he was just speculating right Jeremie?"

Jeremie nodded regretfully, "That's right, even with the probabilities; it is still a possibility that the animal Ulrich and Sissi saw was not Kiwi."

"You see Odd? There's still hope," Yumi said.

Suddenly Aelita burst out sobbing before rushing out of the room. "Aelita wait!" called Jeremie, and was about to run after her, but Ulrich held him back, "Now's not the time," he whispered.

Odd stared after Aelita's disappearance for a moment before rounding on Jeremie again, "Launch a return to the past right now," he demanded.

"What? Wait but Odd-"

"Do it! It's the only way to know for sure. Kiwi was there with me just yesterday, there's no way he could of- not since then."

"But Odd," Jeremie started again, "that's not going to change anything if it was Kiwi, and it could possibly just make Xana stronger."

"I KNOW that!" screamed Odd as a few tears ran down his cheeks, "Just do it!"

"Go on Jeremie," said Yumi, "it's the only way."

Jeremie glanced at Ulrich; after all, it might mean he would have to see that horrible sight all over again. But Ulrich just nodded.

"Fine," said Jeremie as he typed rapidly on the computer, "Return to the Past Now."

* * *

Please **Review** and tell me all about how out of character they were and how they _should_ have reacted and whatever other opions you have. I know you'll probably have a lot of questions, but next chapter a lot of apparent loose ends will be mended and connections shall be made, although this story still has a little ways to go until it's over. Anyways, remeber i am an amateur writer, but still give me criticism. 

thank you

later


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